Vietnam urged to bring to justice corruption cases

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong has asked authorities to soon bring to court big cases that leave serious consequences and public indignation.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong (C) and top leaders at the meeting on Mar 10. Photo: VNA

In detail, the list includes those related to inflating test kit prices at Viet A Company, bribery at the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) involved in the repatriation of Vietnamese people during Covid-19, and violations in land auction and securities transaction.

The request was made at a meeting with the nation’s top leaders namely President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue, and Permanent Member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat Vo Van Thuong.

Viet A test kit case that involves dozens of centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) and medical facilities nationwide has prompted the Party’s Central Anti-Corruption Committee to step in by supervising the settlement process.

The scandal of jacking up prices of Covid-19 test kits at Viet A Technology JSC has sparked public outrage as the sales of products have brought about roughly VND4 trillion (US$174 million) for the company. The company’s executives colluded with high-ranking officials to inflate test kit prices amid widespread Covid-19 outbreaks in 2021.

Meanwhile, some high-ranking officials at the MoFA’s Immigration Department took bribes to license companies responsible for repatriating Vietnamese people.

Some other cases are related to violations in land auctions and securities transactions involving huge amounts of money and key figures.

For big corruption cases, the Central Steering Committee for Anti-corruption (established in 2012) takes charge of supervising the handling process. Meanwhile, Party’s Chief Nguyen Phu Trong who leads the committee goes on with the anti-graft campaign which he said will eliminate corruption no matter who the perpetrators are.

The campaign which is frequently called “burning furnace” (dot lo in Vietnamese) is aimed at regaining public trust.

Big issues

At the meeting with top leaders, the General Secretary asked the government to keep an eye on the Ukraine situation to have a timely response and deploy citizen protection measures.

The government is also required to measure the exact impacts caused by the international situation, mostly those on essential materials to ensure sufficient petroleum supply, inflation control, macroeconomic stabilization, and monitor production cost.

Authorized agencies are tasked with tackling problems in customs clearance at border gates with China while gradually reopening tourism, recreation, arts, and sports in a safe manner.

At the same time, they need to continue giving booster shots and the fourth ones if needed, get ready to vaccinate children aged 5-11, ensure enough Covid-19 drugs, and timely adopt policies on anti-pandemic.

The government needs to speed up fund disbursement for key projects namely Long Thanh Airport, the North-South Expressway, infrastructure projects connecting localities in the North, between the Central Region and Central Highlands, within Southeast and the Mekong Delta, as well as belt roads in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.