Ha Noi (VNA)- Viet Nam's corruption watchdog groups have taken the gloves off in their battle against fraud and nepotism as over 225 cases involving embezzled funds to the tune of 49 billion VND (3 million USD) have been discovered over the past six months.
According to the Government Inspectorate, out of the 482 suspects that were rounded up in the crackdown, 420 have been prosecuted while the remainder were either still under investigation or were handed out administrative punishments for lesser crimes.
Thanks to the investigations that paid a particularly focus on the problem prone areas of customs offices, taxation offices, banks and police, over 6 billion VND and 26,500 sq. m. of land was retrieved and handed back to the state.
Chief Inspector Tran Van Truyen said that major progress has been made in the legal process while the anti-corruption body strengthened grassroots initiatives.
“Education campaigns among public employees have been ratcheted up as one of a series of preventive measures on corruption that we have taken over the past six months,” said Truyen.
He added that steps would be taken to speed up inspections, prosecutions and trials of a bevy of major cases that became front-page news in 2006.
The notorious cases included an apparel quota selling scandal in the Ministry of Trade, an accusation against a National Assembly deputy from Thai Binh province named Mac Kim Ton, and the misuse of public land at Hai Phong's Do Son beach resort.
Other scandals involved senior officials from the national oil and gas giant PetrolVietnam, the Project Management Unit (PMU-18) under the Ministry of Transport and the electricity service in Ho Chi Minh City.--Enditem
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