Vietnam paper calls for tough punishments for corruption
HANOI - Corrupt officials should be given tougher punishments to reduce rampant corruption in government, the official
Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan (People) said Tuesday.
In a front-page column calling for public comments on the upcoming influential Communist Party Congress, Nhan Dan ran a
letter condemning the widespread reach of corruption and recommending a death penalty for officials who embezzle more than
500 million dong ($1=VND14,511).
"Corruption now is penetrating into every corner of the society. Families who lost their loved ones in the struggles for national
independence...are now living miserably while corruption is draining trillions of dong of the state and people's money," the letter
said.
The comments were attributed to Le Quoc Ba from Danang, but the state-controlled Nhan Dan clearly used the letter to voice
a common complaint.
Tarnished by continuing reports of government corruption, the ruling Communist Party launched a highly publicized two-year
campaign against corruption in May 1999. However, the party leadership has conceded that the drive so far hasn't been very
effective. Only a handful of top officials have been reprimanded and a deputy prime minister who lost his job was later
appointed to a similar post.
Under a revised penal code introduced last year, officials involved in corruption involving VND500 million or more can be
sentenced to 20 years in prison, life imprisonment or death.
The Nhan Dan article said corrupt officials have "stained the party's prestige."
"For the interest of the nation and people, (we) have to eliminate, we can't forgive corrupt officials who are doing harm to the
country, discrediting our party," it said.
Another state-run newspaper, Thanh Nien (Young People), Friday said rising corruption is posing a major threat to the
economy.
A dozen officials from the northern province of Hoa Binh, including the provincial vice governor and several other department
directors, are being investigated for losses of VND7.8 billion dong in one case, the newspaper said.
The newspaper also claimed that 63% to 70% of state funds to help ethnic minority farmers in the northern provinces of Son
La, Lai Chau and Thanh Hoa have disappeared into the pockets of local officials. -0- ahathi 09/01/01 05-58G
Associated Press - January 9, 2001.
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