Vietnam - Hanoi loses $31 mln to corruption in 5 years

Five years after the Law on Corruption Prevention and Control were implemented, Hanoi police have prosecuted 273 defendants involved 125 corruption cases worth about VND 966.8 billion (US$46 million), Nguyen Van Tuan Dung, Chief Inspector of Hanoi City, said.

He released the figures at yesterday’s meeting held by Hanoi’s authorities to review its performance on anti-corruption activities during the past 5 years.

After relevant agencies recovered VND317.8 billion, the actual loss to the State budget was VND649 billion, Dung said.

This means only about 33 percent of the embezzled money was given back, he said.

As most of the corruption cases were uncovered by press agencies and the public, this betrays the ineffectiveness of the anti-corruption mechanism within every agency, said deputy chairman of the People’s Committee Vu Hong Khanh.

After 5 years, bureaucratic harassment against citizens, organizations and businesses by government officials performing their administrative duties still remains in many fields, including land leasing, verifying investment projects, and granting certificates of land use rights or house ownership, he said.

Vietnam among countries with much corruption

According to the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which ranked 183 countries and territories around the world on their levels of perceived corruption, announced by Transparency International (TI) early this month, Vietnam ranks 112 with a score of 2.9 (out of 10), Government Deputy Chief Inspector Tran Duc Luong said at the meeting.

Last year, the country ranked 116th with a score of 2.7, suggesting Vietnam’s anti-corruption activities were somewhat more effective last year.

According to the TI’s assessment, countries with scores under 5 are those with endemic corruption and a shifting economy, Luong said.

TI has introduced three solutions for countries with a shifting economy, like Vietnam, to drive back the evil. They include ensuring information transparency, except for information that can affect national security; controlling the country’s properties and income, including mineral resources; and promoting the public role in combating corruption, he said.

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