A national online conference on corruption prevention and control works took place in Hanoi on December 12. The conference was held by the Central Steering Committee for Anti-corruption (referred to as the Steering Committee) to review corruption prevention and control works during the 2013-2020 period.

The conference was organized online to 80 points in the provinces and centrally-run cities. Nearly 700 delegates attended the in-person conference, while nearly 5,000 others joined the event via video conference. The event was chaired by Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, who is also Head of the Steering Committee.

Attending the video conference, Dak Lak has the presence of Mr. Pham Minh Tan, Executive Deputy Secretary of Provincial Party Committee; Mr. Y Bier Nie, Deputy Secretary of Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of Provincial People's Council, Head of Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Members of Standing Bureau of Provincial Party Committee; representatives of People's Council, People's Committee, Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee and relevant departments, agencies.

Delegates of Dak Lak province attends the online conference.

As reported at the event, since the inception of the steering committee (February 2013), the fight against corruption has seen progress, with a lot of important and obvious results, which is a great motivation to fulfill set targets and help the country develop rapidly and sustainably.

Since 2013, 14,300 cases involving 24,410 defendants have been prosecuted, 11,700 cases have been tried with 22,600 defendants involved in corruption, economics, and civil service. Since its establishment, 800 serious cases of public concern have been put on supervision. In which, the Steering Committee have directly supervised and instructed the handling of 133 legal cases and 94 other cases, with 86 cases involving 814 defendants put on trial. The sentences aim to prevent corruption, create a breakthrough in the work of detecting and handling corruption-related cases.

Along with that, the legal agencies have temporarily seized, blocked, withdrew nearly VND68 trillion out of VND118 trillion (reaching 57.39%). For cases under the direction and supervision of the Steering Committee, the seizure of assets and blockade of accounts have reached high rate. In 2020, judgment enforcement agencies have withdrawn the amount, accounting for 61.8% of the total amount from 2013 to present.

Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong - Head of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption addresses the conference. Photo: VNA

The inspection, supervision and audit work have been strengthened. Many violations have been promptly detected and strictly handled. Discipline in the Party and State apparatus has been tightened, effectively contributing to improving anti-corruption work.

In the period of 2013 - 2020, more than 131,000 party members received disciplinary measures. In the past five years, more than 87,000 Party members received disciplinary measures, of whom over 3,200 were involved in corruption. Four Politburo members and former Politburo members, 27 members and former members of the Party Central Committee, and over 30 officers with the general ranking were disciplined.

This is a breakthrough in the inspection and discipline of the Party. Since 2013, the inspection and audit agencies have also proposed to handle more than 14,000 collectives and individuals. Over 650 cases showing criminal signs have been moved to inspection agencies. More than VND700 trillion, more than 20,000 ha of land has been proposed to withdraw.

On the other hand, participants at the conference pointed out a number of shortcomings and limitations on anti-corruption work. For instance, anti-corruption in some localities, ministries and branches have not shown a clear change; detecting and handling corruption is still limited; The rate of withdrawing assets remains low; the inspection and self-detection of corruption within agencies and departments is still a weak stage; property appraisal and valuation are still inadequate; mistakes and corruption still occur in anti-corruption agencies. Mechanisms, policies and laws on socio-economic management and anti-corruption in some areas have had weaknesses and lacked of synchronous. The measures of corruption prevention have not reached high effectiveness.

Speaking at the conference, Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong - Head of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption suggested that it is necessary to continue to promote and improve the effectiveness of propaganda activities, education aiming to raise awareness, responsibility in thrift culture, anti-corruption among cadres, party members and people; to focus on completing mechanisms on socio-economic management, anti-corruption, Party and political system building; to build up a complete, unified, synchronous political and legal corridor; to strengthen inspection, supervision, audit, discipline; to build a contingent of cadres at all levels meeting requirements of tasks in the new situation; to focus on leading and directing the timely handling of corruption cases, and acts of causing troubles for people and enterprises; to improve the efficiency of recovery of corrupted assets.

On this occasion, the Steering Committee also announced the Decision of the State President to award medals to 29 collectives and 30 individuals; Decision of the Prime Minister on awarding Certificates of Merit to 39 collectives and 22 individuals, with outstanding achievements in anti-corruption in the period of 2013 - 2020.