Finance sector: Many solutions to promote anti-corruption

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	Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc chaired the Investment Promotion Conference in the US

Anti-corruption work is being actively promoted by the Ministry of Finance with many solutions. Photo: Internet

Prevent and handle violations in the performance of public duties

A report from the Ministry of Finance said that in the past 10 months, the Ministry of Finance Inspectorate and units with specialized inspection functions under the Ministry have inspected 596,305 tax declaration documents at the agency's headquarters and 868 post clearance audit profiles; Proposing financial settlement of more than 67,771 billion VND. Of which, the proposal to revoke payment is 19,765.5 billion VND; Proposal for other financial handling of VND 43,702 billion; administrative violation fine of 4,303.8 billion VND. The amount collected and paid to the state budget during the period is more than 13,650 billion VND.

With this result, the Ministry of Finance has directed to strengthen internal inspection at units, contributing to preventing, detecting and handling violations in the performance of duties and public service of officials, civil servants and workers throughout the sector.

The Ministry of Finance has also strengthened the implementation of many solutions to prevent corruption in businesses and organizations in the non-state sector. These include urging the implementation of regulations on publicity and transparency of public companies according to the provisions of Securities Law No. 54/2019/QH14, Circular No. 96/2020/TT-BTC dated November 16, 2020 of the Ministry of Finance guiding information disclosure on the stock market. Along with that is the work on controlling conflicts of interest in public companies according to the provisions of Securities Law No. 54/2019/QH14, Enterprise Law 2020, Decree No. 155/2020/ND-CP dated December 31, 2020 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Securities Law. In particular, the State Securities Commission has carried out specialized management and inspection of public companies in compliance with securities laws.

Also according to the report of the Ministry of Finance, implementing the Party's guidelines and policies and the Resolution of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance continues to direct and implement many solutions to promote the role of society in preventing and controlling corruption. In particular, promote propaganda, publicity and transparency in the financial sector; Coordinate with agencies and units to answer questions about mechanisms and policies of people and businesses, contributing to improving the quality of public service supervision activities as well as preventing and combating negativity in officials and civil servants.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance has been continuing to review, amend, supplement and promulgate new norms and standards within the scope of state management functions of the Ministry of Finance to be consistent with the Law on Prevention and Control of Corruption 2018. Currently, the Ministry is developing a Circular stipulating the list and periodical time limit for changing positions for officials and civil servants who directly contact and handle work in the financial sector in the locality.

However, according to experts, the current anti-corruption work still faces many difficulties. For example, regulations on controlling assets and income of people with positions and powers in agencies and organizations still have many unclear points, leading to awkward implementation. Furthermore, electronic payment methods are still limited, the use of cash payments in society is still common, leading to difficulties in controlling and preventing corruption, etc. Therefore, in order to solve these problems, it is necessary for all parties to participate in, with synchronous solutions.

Turn determination into action, walk the talk

In answering questions before the National Assembly at the 6th Session, Government Inspector General Doan Hong Phong said that the Government has been focusing on leading and directing the implementation of many solutions to improve prevention work, combating corruption and negativity, controlling power in accordance with the guiding spirit of the Central Steering Committee on preventing and combating corruption and negativity. On October 26, the Prime Minister signed and promulgated Directive 26/CT-TTg on rectifying and strengthening inspection, examination and supervision of public service activities. The directive was issued to control the power to prevent negative corruption among officers, civil servants and officials.

Regarding the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry's report stated that the current and future anti-corruption work must turn determination into action, first of all exemplary and drastic actions, walk the talk of heads of party committees, Party organizations, agencies, organizations and units. The Ministry of Finance believes that it is necessary to closely combine active prevention, proactive detection and handling strictly and promptly those who commit corrupt acts or cover up, tolerate or abet corruption, intervening and obstructing anti-corruption according to regulations. At the same time, there needs to be a lenient policy for those who commit corrupt acts but proactively report and resolve the consequences before being discovered.

Recently, the Ministry of Finance submitted to the Government a proposal to develop a Law on Thrift Practices and Waste Combat (amended). Among the proposed policies, it is worth noting the group of policies to encourage agencies, organizations, units and especially workers to participate responsibly in waste combat. According to the Ministry of Finance, the addition of this incentive mechanism will help organizations, units, and employees truly be the beneficiaries of the savings they create, thereby being more responsible for managing and using resources of agencies and units, etc. Furthermore, this mechanism also creates motivation for organizations and individuals to detect and report cases of waste, thereby helping to boost the effectiveness of thrift practice and anti-corruption.