How to improve the recovery of money and assets lost in corruption cases became a hot topic for discussion among Vietnamese legislators at a National Assembly (NA) meeting on Wednesday.

Huynh Nghia, an NA deputy of the central city of Da Nang, said that the detection and settlement of corruption cases, as well as the recovery of damage caused by such scandals, have yet to meet public expectations.

“From the beginning of this year up to now, corruption has caused a total loss of VND950 billion [VND42.6 million] in cash and 10,000m² of land, but only 55.8 percent of the money and 29.2 percent of the land area have been recovered.

Such a low rate of recovery is worrying for people, many of whom requested that effective measures should be taken to prevent corrupt officials from getting on with what the public called “sacrificing the life of fathers to improve the life of their children.”       

As understood by the general public, “sacrificing” here means corrupt officials accepting penalties given to them by the law for their offenses, while “to improve the life” means leaving the assets or money they have illegally gained from their crime to their children. 

Nghia suggested that the NA adopt a regulation that recovery of losses in corruption cases be the most important factor that a court is required to take into account when deciding a penalty for a corrupt official.

He also requested that courts not give suspended sentences to corrupt officials until all the damage caused by their actions had been recovered.

“The less the damage is recovered, the heavier the penalty should be,” Nghia suggested.

He also advised that any commutation or amnesty should be given to prisoners only when they have returned at least 80 percent of money or properties to authorities.

Meanwhile, Tran Dinh Nha, deputy chairman of the NA’s Committee on Defense and Security, said that the legislature should consider “getting rich in illegitimate ways” a criminal offense.

“Any officials becoming rich fast are required to prove the origin of their assets. If they fail to do so, they should be regarded as corrupt officials,” Nha said.

He added that such a rule has been applied effectively in Singapore, Hong Kong and other countries.

Sharing the same view with Nha, Tran Dinh Quyen, deputy chairman of the NA’s Committee on Justice, said that controlling personal assets and income is the most important measure for anti-corruption drives in many countries.

“Vietnam should work out a rule in this field soon,” Quyen suggested.

Tran Thi Quoc Khanh, a deputy from Hanoi, lamented, “So much money has been lost in corruption cases and cannot be recovered, while at the same time the state does not have the budget to increase minimum wages for workers or for building roads for residents or schools for children.”  

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