“The more Vietnam fights corruption, the more corruption there is, because it is a chronic disease of the one-party ruling political system.” That is the general opinion of domestic and international analysts when talking about the current anti-corruption work of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
That is the answer to the question of most people, “why, the more the Party fights corruption, the more corruption unveiled?”
On September 6, Tuoi Tre newspaper published an article with the title, “The number of detected bribery cases increased by more than 312%, the power of leaders needs to be controlled.” Perhaps, indirectly, Tuoi Tre newspaper had to admit that the fight against corruption in Vietnam has failed.
According to Tuoi Tre newspaper, at the 10th plenary session of the Judicial Committee, Deputy Chairwoman of the Judicial Committee Mai Thi Phuong Hoa presented the research team’s verification opinion on the Government’s report, on public works. Crime prevention and control, 2023 (October 2022 to July 31, 2023). Specifically, the number of corruption crimes increased by 71.46%, the number of subjects increased by 116.17%, and the number of bribery cases discovered increased by 312.5%.
And before that, at the 24th meeting of the Central Steering Committee on anti-corruption, on August 16, it also said: “…in the first 2 years of the 13th Congress term until now, this agency Directed the recovery of over VND53 trillion (an increase of 2.5 times compared to the entire term of the 12th Congress), criminally handling 31 central-level officials, most of which were assets dispersed abroad. There have been 31 centrally managed officials who have been criminally prosecuted. Among these are six ministers, former ministers, secretaries, former provincial party secretaries and nine general-level military officers.
In the first six months of 2023 alone, litigation agencies across the country prosecuted and investigated 452 cases/1,409 defendants for corruption crimes (an increase of 155 cases/727 defendants compared to the same period of 2022).”
That shows and confirms that there is absolutely no such thing as “the fight against corruption is becoming more and more drastic, demonstrating the high determination of the Party and the state that there are no prohibited areas, no exceptions” like the government propagates.
The two highest goals of anti-corruption in any country must be to reduce corruption to the lowest level and recover corrupt assets to the highest possible level. In reality today, it is clear that General Trong’s “burning the furnace” campaign has not achieved any of its goals, including maintaining “stable corruption” and has not been successful.
Recently, there have been doubts about General Secretary Trong’s anti-corruption motives. Perhaps that is how the head of the Communist Party deliberately “created conditions for cadres to easily corrupt” then sought to prosecute, arrest, and confiscate assets. And the policy of creating loopholes in such an “inhumane” policy will be related to the prosecution of corruption. The issue of who bribe to escape crime is also understandable. In essence, it must be understood that it is the policy of “Anti-corruption to feed corruption.” There are several questions that need to be clarified:
Firstly, why are the violations in corruption cases mostly due to competent officials taking advantage of loopholes in the law, allowing corruption to take place for a very long time, without taking immediate measures to prevent it instantly?
Second, why did General Secretary Trong put forward the strange policy, “… any officer who has made a mistake and then voluntarily quits and return the money will be ‘exempt or lightly punished’; Isn’t it good to be punished harshly, and to be completely dismissed.” Let’s ask, is Mr. Trong’s policy actually tolerating corruption?
And from there, there have been clear consequences. Most recently, former Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh received $200,000 from Phan Quoc Viet, Director of Viet A. Mr. Chu’s “thank you” saying to Phan Quoc Viet has become a “famous” saying on social networks. However, why did the investigation conclusion confirm that Chu Ngoc Anh would not be prosecuted for “receiving bribes“? It is a typical example of the policy of tolerating corruption and bribed officials bribe to avoid punishment corruption sentences.
National corruption is considered an internal enemy, but in reality, the head of the Communist Party of Vietnam advocates considering corruption as an indispensable lubricating oil for the corrupt machine to operate. Corruption has long been known to everyone as the source and root of the wealth of leading officials. Yet why has the systematic way of enriching officials over a long period of time not been neutralized, and the provisions of law strictly applied to completely prevent it?
Vietnam is a socialist rule-of-law state. In principle, to be a rule-of-law state, it must use law to govern. The anti-corruption law has specific and clear regulations, so why does Mr. Trong not advocate thorough and strict application, but instead sees “fighting corruption as fighting ourselves?” Then, “Isn’t it good to only punish harshly, or to remove everyone from office?”
Is it a major policy of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, to protect the policy of “Fighting corruption to feed corruption?” Regardless, the national corruption problem in Vietnam has now become a malignant tumor, metastasizing at the final stage? And clearly, “the need to control the power of the leader” for the General Secretary, as stated in the article by Tuoi Tre newspaper, is necessary and urgent./.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
