More than $1 billion retrieved from corruption, economic crimes

Minister of Public Security Tô Lâmspeaks at a meeting held on Tuesday to review its  二0 一 八 performance and prepare for  二0 一 九. — Photo cand.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Public Security’s Investigation Police Department on Economic, Corruption-related Crimes and Smuggling retrieved nearly VNĐ 二 七 trillion (US$ 一. 一 六 billion) by investigating cases of corruption and economic violations in  二0 一 八.

The figure represents nearly  五0 per cent of the total estimated damage caused by the violations and an  一 八 percentage point increase from the funds recovered in  二0 一 七, the department revealed at a meeting held on Tuesday to review its  二0 一 八 performance and prepare for  二0 一 九.

Of the figure, nearly VNĐ 二. 九 trillion was recovered from corruption cases.

Minister of Public Security Tô Lâm spoke highly of the efforts of the department’s staff, saying they recorded progress in discovering economic and corruption crimes and in retrieving assets from these cases.

However, he said shortcomings remained and the department should review them and use their findings to improve the fight against corruption and smuggling.  

He instructed the economic police to familiarise themselves with Party and State guidelines on combating corruption and economic crimes and to improve consultancy work for the ministry, the Party and the State.

The year of  二0 一 九 is set to be a key period in the fight against these crimes, as Việt Nam has integrated deeper into the global economy. Lâm said the department must have an active, long-term vision for combating economic, corruption and smuggling crimes.

The department should focus on measures to speed up the investigation of key economic and corruption cases and the recovery of assets, he said.

It was also necessary to closely follow the socio-economic developments of the Government in  二0 一 九 and beyond to prevent and punish crimes, thereby contributing to fulfilling the Government’s targets and combating corruption and wastefulness, he said. — VNS