Voters meeting President Truong Tan Sang in HCM City on November 25 suggested that officials found to be corrupt or responsible for losing State assets should face harsher penalties.

Nguyen Minh Gioi, who lives in the City’s district 4, said that many residents were disappointed by the response to cases of corruption. He said the existence of “group interests” is challenging the fight against corruption and if no culprits are brought to light, all efforts made are corrupted. He believed that stricter punishments will act as a deterrent to others.

Nguyen Van Nhon said that local people are worried because while thousands of corruption cases have been uncovered, many of the charges have been dropped to lesser ones, meaning lighter punishments.

Fellow voter Nguyen Vinh Ngoc said that he is worried about mismanagement allowing important projects such as the Nam Dinh Television Tower and the Song Tranh 2 Hydro-power plant to fall short of quality standards. He added that currently the officials responsible have not been sufficiently held to account and the Minister of Construction should not make excuses.

Ngoc said that the same type of mistakes can be seen in the management of medicine prices by the Ministry of Health.

The President was also told that National Assembly deputies should make sure that the ministers fulfil their promises.

Voters did express their pleasure about the results achieved at the fourth session of the 13th National Assembly, which ended last week.

The President listened and replied to all of the opinions at the meeting.