Francesco Checchi (left), Anti-Corruption Regional Advisor, UNODC in South East Asia and Pacific; Nguyen Huu Loc (middle), Acting General Director of the International Cooperation Department under the Government Inspectorate (GI), and Ngo Manh Hung, Deputy Director of Vietnam’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, answer questions by conference delegates. (Photo: courtesy of the GI) Hanoi (VNA) - In the last ten years, ameagre 10 percent of assets worth of 60 trillion VND (approximately 2.65billion USD) involved in nearly 1,900 corruption cases have been recovered.
The figure was revealed on December 8 by Ngo Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the VietnamAnti-Corruption Bureau under the Government Inspectorate (GI), at theMulti-Stakeholder Roundtable on the Second Review Cycle of the United NationsConvention Against Corruption (UNCAC), co-hosted by GI and the United NationsOffice on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).
According to Hung, thanks to enhanced efforts, asset recovery has progressivelyimproved but has yet to yield satisfactory outcomes due to the infrequentmonitoring of public servants’ assets. As a result, corruption is usuallydiscovered and prosecuted only when the damage is serious.
“Total recovery is hard, and the longer we hesitate, the more amount isirrecoverable,” he said.
Shervin Majlessi, Senior Legal Adviser to the World Bank on the Stolen AssetRecovery Initiative (StAR), agreed with Hùng that assets should be frozenbefore corrupt officials have time to hide or spend it.
Shervin also advocated co-operation mechanisms between domestic and foreignjurisdictions, stressing mutual legal assistance between states as a keyinstrument in asset recovery.
Vietnam is looking to consolidate a code of conduct and responsibilities ofpublic servants, and to add regulations on integrity education, Hung said.
The 2015 Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration PerformanceIndex (PAPI) survey, supported by the UN, showed that Vietnamese express moreconcern about corruption in the public sector and in public service deliveryand are more worried about corruption and nepotism in public sector employment.In addition, only 37 percent of citizens say their local government is seriousabout fighting corruption.
“Putting an end to corruption requires a comprehensive approach. Only in aclimate of transparency and accountability and with participation by allmembers of society is this possible. Governments, the private sector, themedia, civil society organisations and the general public need to work togetherto curb this crime,” said Francesco Checchi, the UNODC Anti-Corruption RegionalAdvisor in South East Asia and Pacific.
The UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally bindinguniversal anti-corruption instrument, and Checchi commended Vietnam forratifying it in 2009 which has given new impetus to anti-corruption efforts.
In the conference, delegates focused on discussing and sharing information onpreparation works for Vietnam’s implementation of the second review cycle ofUNCAC, which lasts from 2016 to 2010 and deals with Chapter II on corruptionpreventive measures and Chapter V on asset recovery; while the first cycle from2010 to 2015 dealt with Chapter III on criminalisation and law enforcement, andChapter IV on international co-operation.
"The round table conference is timely and important in the context of thatViệt Nam is preparing to construct the UNCAC Second Review Process Report andmeanwhile implement four processes of UNCAC," Nguyen Huu Loc, ActingGeneral Director of International Co-operation Department, under GI, said.
The conference was held to mark the 2016 International Day against Corruption(December 9), with this year’s theme being United Against Corruption forDevelopment, Peace, and Security.-VNA
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