Vietnam to bring to justice 10 corruption cases in 2022: General Secretary

Nearly half of the cases are related to the health sector, in which the alleged offenders are accused of abusing power for profiteering during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ten corruption cases will be brought to justice this year to boost the anti-corruption fight in Vietnam as required by Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong.

Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong, head of the Central Steering Committe for Anti-corruption, at the meeting on Jan 20. Photo: VNA

The cases, including four in the health sector, are typically serious with the involvement of senior officials, reported at the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption's meeting chaired by the secretary general on January 20.

Trong directed the thorough investigations to bring to court any offender regardless of positions.

Ten cases include that on violations of public asset management rules causing losses in Binh Duong Producing and Trading Corp; power abuse and trading counterfeit goods in the Ministry of Health's Drug Administration; violations of  public asset  management rules causing losses in Tan Thuan Construction and Investment Co., Ltd; smuggling, trading counterfeit goods, and bribery in Dong Nai and some other provinces; bribery in the Vietnam Coast Guard and Border Guard Commands; Power abuse in Saigon Co.op; violations in land use in an eco-tourism project in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province; power abuse in Bach Mai Hospital, the country's largest hospital; violations in bidding in Hanoi Heart Hospital; violations in bidding and power abuse in Viet A Company and several localities.

In addition, competent authorities are required to end the investigations in 16 cases, handle 40 cases, and bring to court 23 other cases.

In 2021, more than 1,000 offenders involved in 390 cases were prosecuted for corruption and power abuse.

As many as 618 party members were disciplined in 2021, some 132 more offenders than the previous year. Of them, 32 are high-ranking officials who are under the management of the Politburo, the country's most powerful body, and the Secretariat, and the CPV's Central Committee.

For cases under the supervision of the committee from 2013 until now. The rate of assets recovered reached 33.3% or VND31 trillion (US$1.3 billion).

Since the establishment of the committee in 2012, the anti-graft campaign that Nguyen Phu Trong said to eliminate corruption in the country through the frequently-used term "burning furnace" (dot lo in Vietnamese) is aimed to regain the public trust.

Since the beginning of the Doi Moi (renovation) in 1986, it can be seen as one of the unprecedented successes for the CPV.

High profile politicians have either been brought to justice, reprimanded for their actions, or  lost any chance  of holding  a long-term political position in the future such as Hoang Trung Hai, Dinh La Thang, Le Thanh Hai, Nguyen Duc Chung, Truong Minh Tuan, Nguyen Bac Son, and Tat Thanh Cang.