Eradicate corruption by power monitoring

Especially, on Jun 25, the National Conference on Anti-corruption, chaired by Party Generally Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, gave a comprehensive assessment of the results, limitations and solutions for anti-corruption in the coming time, affirmed that the Party, the State is determined to destroy the “internal invasion”.

Around the work of anti-corruption, reporters of Customs News interviewed Major General LE VAN CUONG (photo), former director of the Institute of Strategy (Ministry of Public Security).

What do you think about the fight against corruption, after 2 years of implementation of the Resolution 4 of the Central Committee XII?

I think, after 2 years of implementation, we have tried, determined and gained tremendous results. In which, I generalize the four results as follows:

Firstly, over the last 20 months, especially since the General Secretary played the role as the Head of the Central Steering Committee on anti-corruption, a higher number of big cases were put on trial than the last 32 years (since 1986). The number of officials which were handled in 20 months is 10 times higher than that of the last 32 years. The number of senior officials which were handled in the last 20 months is 20 times higher than that of the last 32 years. Remarkably, the strange achievements and moves above only took place in the last 20 months. Big cases have been dealt with publicly, transparently, true criminal justice, right punishment for those in the wrong, which all are visible results.

Secondly, along with the number of corrupt officials being criminally handled, the General Secretary also resolutely handled officials who were promoted improperly and failed to fulfill their tasks causing serious losses, and officials who were wrong in cadre work. This may include typical cases such as Vo Kim Cu, Nguyen Phong Quang, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Deputy Head of the Southwest Region Steering Committee, and a series of other cases. Notably, not only serious economic cases, but cases involving generals of the armed forces have also been identified.

This is also considered as a great achievement in the fight against corruption because it not only fights against corruption, but also removes corrupt officials, unqualified officials, or Party officials who were handled due to violations. These achievements, without the determination of the political apparatus of the Party and the State, could not have be achieved.

Third, the more important achievement is that this fight has created a breakthrough and has reinforced the belief of party members and the people towards the Party.

Fourthly, the fight against corruption and the handling of Party cadres has exposed weaknesses and loopholes in the system of economic management, social management and personnel management. Through dozens of cases, the Party and the State have seen more clearly the weaknesses in economic management and staff management and have initially taken remedial measures.

I think these are the big 4 achievements in the fight against corruption recently.

In your point of view, what is the best way for the fight against corruption to get the best results?

On the one hand, we must affirm that in the past 20 months, the General Secretary who has directly headed the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption has brought this fight to a turning point, from small guerrilla warfare to advancing the attack, created a brilliant achievement, and well supported by the people.

On the one hand, the people still wonder whether this fight is successful or not for the eradication of corruption. Around this issue, I think that the first important thing now is that each member of the Politburo must fully and strictly comply with the Resolution of the Fourth Plenum of the 12th Central Committee and the Resolution of the 6th National Congress (1986), it will certainly pull 4.5 million party members to follow. In the Resolution of the 6th National Congress (1986), it is clear that with the conscience of communists, every member of the Communist Party should consider whether or not he has lived by his true labors or not. The higher the position is, the greater is the demand to be exemplary, no one has the right of self-giving privileges. This is the first thing to do.

The next is to remove the “root” of corruption. We must change, adjust, and supplement the system. Because without power monitoring, it will easily lead to corruption, this is a rule without exception. As in Singapore, an official, civil servant has four monitoring agencies, thus he is unable to corrupt.

Secondly, in my opinion, the responsibility of the individual should be clearly defined. In our legal system there is no clear definition of individual, head of agency or unit responsibility. In the world, in countries such as Singapore, New Zealand... it is defined clearly, specifically.

Thirdly, the state must publicize the activities, the cadre work must be transparent. Finally, the State must create conditions for people to supervise the activities of the Party, State, cadres and Party members. At the same time, promote the review role of the Fatherland Front and the people about the policies of the Party and the State.

It must be determined that political corruption is more damaging than money corruption, because these people are government gatekeepers, which can engross the political apparatus. President Ho Chi Minh once said good or bad is in the cadres, if the official is good, the job is successful, bad officials, the job fails. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the organization of cadres and the process of appointment of cadres.

Thank you, sir!