Corruption in Vietnam becomes systemic. Leaders of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam have admitted that anti-corruption work is ineffective.
Specifically, in Conclusion No. 12-KL/TW of the Politburo dated April 6, 2022 on the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity, it was admitted that “anti-corruption implementation is still slow and effective, results are not high” and “Corruption, waste… cause negative consequences in many aspects, reduce people’s trust, and are one of the major risks threatening the survival of the Party and the regime.”
The most obvious reality that the leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam do not dare to publicly admit is that the “burning” of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the more we fight corruption, the more corruption increases. In particular, for provinces and localities across the country, there has been a situation where the country’s leadership has lost control.
Specifically, a few recent examples:
Thanh Hoa is a large province, less than 200 km from Hanoi. Yet, Thanh Tra newspaper reported on September 18, “After getting a disciplinary warning, Mr. Dao Vu Viet, Secretary of the Bim Son Town Party Committee, Thanh Hoa province, was appointed Deputy Director of the Department of Transport.” This is what Thanh Hoa people call “reverse discipline,” that is, discipline and then promotion to a higher position.
Through research, in 2017, Mr. Dao Vu Viet was Director of the Department of Construction of Thanh Hoa province. In December 2017, Mr. Dao Vu Viet was disciplined by the Central Inspection Commission for his involvement in affairs with “hot girl” Tran Vu Quynh Anh. The reason is that Mr. Dao Vu Viet signed a decision to appoint her as Head of the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department, under the Department of Construction of Thanh Hoa province, even though she has no expertise. It is known that Ms. Quynh Anh was the mistress of Secretary of Thanh Hoa at that time – Trinh Van Chien.
By mid-2022, the leaders of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee transferred Mr. Viet to become Secretary of the Bim Son Town Party Committee, despite public opposition. Most recently, on September 17, Mr. Do Minh Tuan, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Thanh Hoa province, signed a decision to appoint Mr. Dao Vu Viet, Secretary of Bim Son Town Party Committee, to the position of Deputy Director of the Department of Transport of Thanh Hoa province, within 5 years from the date of signing the decision.
It is worth mentioning that this appointment decision was signed right after Mr. Dao Vu Viet was once again given a disciplinary warning by the Central Inspection Commission. However, the most important thing is, the reason for the discipline is hidden!
The situation just mentioned in Thanh Hoa province shows that Mr. Tran Cam Tu’s Central Inspection Commission disciplined provincial leaders in an irresponsible manner. Issuing a formal disciplinary decision, that’s it, leaving it up to subordinates to… handle.
Or recently, the story of “Officers demanding ‘kickbacks’ of billions of dong, only to be ‘learned from experience’ at the People’s Committee of Ca Mau province.” Accordingly, in the conclusion of the Inspection on the implementation of projects and works in Phu Tan district, Ca Mau, it was determined that there was a kickback of 20-30% of the total project cost of VND6.5 billion. That means, the kickback amount of VND1.5 billion was only to support meetings, gasoline, propaganda and lunches… yet the 7 officials who were accused of “asking for expenses” were only punished. discipline of “learning from experience.”
It is known that this is not the first time provincial officials have been found to have violated “receiving bribes” in Vietnam, but were only criticized to learn from experience. Previously, in August 2020, the People’s Committee of Kien Giang province announced the conclusion of the inspection of land violations in this province, with a total amount of violations amounting to nearly VND750 billion. Yet, the provincial officials involved in that violation were only “criticized and learned from.”
The situation in some localities, not only “learning from experience“, many corrupt officials are not only not prosecuted, but also promoted, is quite common.
According to observers of the political situation that Thoibao.de had the opportunity to interview and discuss, they all have the same opinion that the disciplinary process and cadre planning in the system of the Communist Party of Vietnam are currently Nowadays, it is very arbitrary, lacks transparency and is based on emotions. Discipline depends on whose protection or what force is behind it. That makes people increasingly lose faith in the government and the state.
One-party rule creates many loopholes for corrupt people. Previously, the anti-corruption agency waited for corruption to handle it, but now the Central Government appears helpless. This shows that the leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam only take advantage of anti-corruption to fight each other within the Party. As for the corrupt people who are close people or lackeys of anti-corruption leaders, or high-ranking leaders, they are not punished. That is why, corruption in Vietnam is widespread, people can see it all, but no one can handle it.
That is one of the reasons why General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s anti-corruption work is ineffective. The more we fight, the more corruption grows like mushrooms growing after the rain.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
