Vietnam corruption reported
HANOI - A massive internal inspection by Vietnam's Communist Party found that 69,000 party members — more
than 40 percent of those reviewed — were guilty of corruption over the past five years, official media reported Wednesday.
The findings, released at a two-day national conference of party inspectors, came as the party
experiences unprecedented internal debate. Leaders have admitted that a campaign against corruption
has failed and a leadership shake-up is expected at a key party congress next month.
The number of party members disciplined between 1996 and 2001 has dropped by 16 percent, the
review found, although the violations they have been punished for are more serious, the Communist
Party daily Nhan Dan said.
The review found that senior government officials were among those found guilty of corruption and that
the main problems were embezzlement and financial mismanagement. Party members can be punished
for a wide range of transgressions, from having too many children to engaging in private business.
Phap Luat (Law) newspaper reported that party inspectors found 43 percent of the 160,000 party
members inspected nationwide guilty of corruption. One third of the 2,000 party organizations
investigated were also found tainted by graft.
In an oblique reference to mass protests earlier this month by ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands,
a politburo member at the conference urged local authorities to examine and expedite public complaints
about the party.
``People lost confidence in the party organizations when the inspections were not well conducted,''
politburo member Pham The Duyet was quoted as saying by Nhan Dan.
The protests, involving thousands of villagers, were fueled by land grievances and religious tensions. It
was seemingly the most serious civil unrest in Vietnam in several years.
More than 100 senior officials have been disciplined, but there were cases of senior officials getting off
lightly while lower-ranking officials were dealt with harshly, Nhan Dan reported.
The Associated Press - February 14, 2001.
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