Deputy PM demands corrupted officials be handled strictly

Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh on January 21 requested relevant agencies adamantly deal with law violations as well as corrupted officials and public employees who lend a hand to criminals.

He made the requirement at a meeting held in Hanoi by the Government’s steering committee for crime fight and the national steering committee for prevention and control of smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods.

Deputy Minister of Public Security Sen. Lt. Gen. Le Quy Vuong reported that more than 53,000 social order violating cases were recorded in 2018, and over 50 percent of criminal cases related to asset appropriation.

Corruption tends to decline but petty corruption still exists in many fields. Meanwhile, crimes and economic law violations still occurred in many sectors, particularly finance, banking, land management, natural resources and project investment.

Smuggling, trading of banned products, and cross-border trafficking of goods and money haven’t shown signs of decrease, he noted, adding that hi-tech criminals have used many new tricks, causing widespread losses. Online gambling has also become serious, involving trillions of VND.

Vuong said police have coordinated with relevant forces to prevent, investigate and deal with crimes well while dealing with complex criminal and social order problems in a timely fashion.

At the meeting, many participants said it is of utmost importance to continue enhancing discipline in the fight against smuggling and trade fraud. They pointed out that there remain some officials and public employees with low capacity and degraded morality, which has hampered the combat against crimes, smuggling and counterfeits.

Applauding improvements in the crime prevention and control, Deputy PM Binh said this is a constant task of all ministries, sectors and localities.

He partly attributed the complicated smuggling and trade fraud situation to the lack of responsibility and lax management, even collusion with criminals, of some corrupted officials and public employees. Therefore, he requested inspections be stepped up and petty corruption be thoroughly eradicated at administrative agencies so that people’s trust in officials and public employees will not be undermined.

It is also necessary to prevent crimes right within authorised forces themselves such as the public security, customs, market management, border guard, coast guard or taxation forces. Officials and public employees who lack sense of responsibility or show signs of committing violations must be strictly handled so as to clean up agencies’ apparatus, Binh stressed.-VNA