National Assembly’s Standing Committee discusses draft Law on Corruption Prevention Fighting against (amended)

 The 11^th working session o​f National Assembly’s Standing Committee.

 According to the legislative program of the National Assembly in 2012, the draft Law on Corruption Prevention and Fighting against (amended) would be passed at the 4th Session on October.

According to Government’s report, the current Law on Corruption Prevention and Fighting against reveals its inadequacies in  publicity and transparency of the operations of agencies, organizations and units; transparency of assets, income, job rotation among officials and public servants; responsibilities of heads of agencies, organizations and units; state management in the mission of corruption prevention and fighting against.

Not agreeing with the view of comprehensive amendment to Law on Corruption Prevention and Fighting against, many members of National Assembly’s Standing Committee suggested revising only important contents such as the democracy, publicity and transparency in cadres’ work, especially in recruitment, planning, appointment, transfer, rotation, evaluation, reward, or discipline; strictly implementing regulations on officials’ asset and income transparency, publicizing declaration of assets and incomes at work places; gradually expanding declaration scope and publicity range of asset declaration result; innovating model structure and  organization as well as operation of lead agencies, directing agencies and standing agencies; providing advice about corruption prevention and fighting against...

Due to limited time for preparation, the implementation of Law on Corruption Prevention and Fighting against hasn’t been fully summarized and evaluated (only partially) whereas the draft Law would be passed after only one working session as expected.

Mr. Nguyen Sinh Hung, Chairman of National Assembly, proposed that the existing and feasible problems would be modified first, and the unfeasible ones that need further examining would be handled later.

* Publicizing assets at the workplaces

As for the regulations on asset and income declaration, many National Assembly’s Standing Committee members agreed not to expand object range, because the property declaration and transparency are not practical but formal, which results in and the low effectiveness.

In the verification report by Justice Committee, it is suggested that the draft Law should specifically stipulate the contents related to declaration and transparency of properties and incomes, such as the agencies that are competent to carry out verification and make conclusion; responsibilities of declarants; use range of verification results; explanation mechanism; order, procedures, timing, coordination relationships in verification; complaints about declaration or verification and complaint settlements...

In the report by the Government, the jurisdiction agency and some members of National Assembly’s Standing Committee suggested that declaration of assets and income should be publicized at workplaces of only to enhance personal responsibility for declaration as well as to ensure the legality of property.

* Three options to define the Steering Committee on corruption prevention and fighting against

On the basis of Conclusion of Central Conference 5 term XI, the Government proposed three options to modify the regulations on Central Steering Committee on corruption prevention and fighting against.

The first option states that Central Central Steering Committee on corruption prevention and fighting against affiliated to Politburo headed by the Secretary General has the responsibility to direct, coordinate, inspect and supervise the performance of corruption prevention and fighting against nationwide. Central Internal Affairs Committee is the standing agency of Central Steering Committee on corruption prevention and fighting against.

According to the second option, it is necessary to define the Steering Committee in the modified Law to ensure consistency in leadership and guidance on corruption prevention and fighting against. Organization, obligation, right and operation regulation of the Central Steering Committee on corruption prevention and fighting against is defined by National Assembly’s Standing Committee.

The third option determines that Steering Committee is the a Party’s agency, which does not belong to State, so the modified Law will not define the establishment, organization, obligations, rights and operation regulations of the agency.

On verifying this content, Justice Committee said that the National Assembly’s legal documents couldn’t define organization, operation and functions of a Party’s agency if the first option is applied.

Similarly, the second option mentioned unprecedented case which is that National Assembly’s Standing Committee defines the organization, operation, functions and duties of the Central Steering Committee on the corruption prevention and fighting against headed by the Secretary General.

Verification agency agreed with the third options with the spirit of the Central Resolution 4 term XI following the precedent of building the current legal system. At the same time, it still ensures Party’s leadership and State's management over the mission of corruption prevention and fighting against. It is also appropriate that the organization and performance of Steering Committee is defined in Party’s document.

Many members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee also agreed with the third option. 

Source: Government Electronics Newspaper