Recently, the city of Da Nang held a draw to select officials to verify declared assets, a measure that had been carried out in Hanoi about a week earlier and was criticized by the public.
Specifically, the Inspectorate of Da Nang City on August 30 told the state press that it had held a draw and identified 5 out of 29 officials to verify assets and income in 2022 in accordance with regulations on assets control and financial incomes of state officials.
A Da Nang resident, Ms. Huynh Hang told RFA her opinion on August 31:
“I do not agree to draw and rely on luck, because everything is very clear to see the nature of a greedy official, all cadres who get rich quickly will be investigated, it is mandatory. There will be fraud if the council wants to eliminate the opponent. It is necessary to consider choosing someone who is really good enough to hold the reins in the task of inspecting cadres, this person is best if elected by the people because the people know very well who the cadre is.”
According to the news, the five selected officials include three officials of the Department of Planning and Investment and two officials of the Da Nang General Publishing House. Explaining about this lottery, the Da Nang City Inspector said that the criteria for selecting the person selected for verification are those who are obliged to declare … subject to an annual declaration of assets and income.
Former Lieutenant Colonel Vu Minh Tri, who used to work at the General Department of Military Intelligence – (General Department II), commented to RFA on August 31 about the lottery to select officers who must verify assets:
“Regarding Da Nang, I see that the lottery to select officials to verify assets is clearly abnormal. This city has hundreds of agencies and thousands of officials who are required to declare assets, why are five lots drawn to both agencies?”
Mr. Vu Minh Tri said that in Vietnam, the main problem is that there is no independent agency to supervise the lottery. Therefore, he did not see any basis to believe that they would be conducted in an objective and serious way. According to Mr. Tri, cadres who have illicit assets through embezzlement and corruption always have hundreds of thousands of ways to hide their crimes and deny their crimes. Therefore, to be effective, there must be independent supervision, first of all, the independent supervision of the people.
Deputy Government Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem in the document guiding the declaration of assets and income of state officials sent to departments and localities in 2021 clearly stated: that those who are obliged to declare assets and income as cadres and civil servants; officers of the People’s Public Security; officers of the People’s Army, professional soldiers; state officials holding positions from deputy head of department and equivalent or higher working in public non-business units, state-owned enterprises, people appointed as representatives of state capital in enterprises… Meanwhile, Da Nang only picks up and identified five of the 29 officers to verify assets and income in 2022.
Previously, on August 25, the People’s Committee of Hanoi City had a decision to approve the plan to verify assets and income in 2022. Accordingly, the person has verified assets and income at each application. Candidates are also selected by lottery. The purpose of this plan according to Hanoi authorities is to check and clarify the accuracy and truthfulness of the contents in the declaration of assets and income of officials.
Responding to RFA from Hanoi on August 31 regarding this issue, Professor Nguyen Dinh Cong – a former member of the Communist Party of Vietnam – said his opinion:
“I just heard about this, I was also surprised, I generally disagree. Whoever proposes such lucky draws, it’s not good. This is not the way political people work, this is a trick, I don’t know how. I have not met many people, but reading in my own newspaper, I personally do not agree with the lottery to declare assets. In my opinion, this is counterproductive. The asset declaration should be made transparent, but they draw lots, it should be from top to bottom to specify who needs to declare, not so.”
Economics Doctor Nguyen Huy Vu, when talking to RFA via text message from Norway on August 31, said:
“The lottery to verify the property will easily take place in the case of ‘running lots’ when people who do not want to be verified will pay money to hire people who do not have significant assets to draw lots. If the asset verification policy is to eliminate corruption, it should be to verify all officials, and everyone is equal before policies and laws. But why doesn’t the Communist Party do this? That’s because if verified thoroughly, every official has a problem. Doing it thoroughly is different from the left hand hitting the right hand, the organization will be in chaos. So it’s not the Communist Party’s fight against corruption, it’s just a show to please people.”
While it is necessary to transparently disclose assets so that they can be verified and recovered when there is a corruption violation, at the end of 2020, the Ministry of Justice issued a regulation that the data for recovering corrupt assets is a “top secret.” There are many doubts that, because only officials members of the Communist Party can be corrupt, so if it is public, it will make people lose trust. However, the reality shows that the more it is not public, the more it proves not transparent.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
