At the Committee’s 12^th session held in Hanoi on January 14, PM Dung said that more effective measures against corruption were taken in 2009, helping to prevent the illegal purchase of corruption and misappropriation of ODA funding in capital construction investment projects.

However, corruption is a growingly serious and complicated problem arising from land management, taxation, customs, urban housing development and economic projects. In addition, propaganda activities concerning anti-corruption have not been conducted regularly while problems encountered by the people and businesses have not been properly dealt with by State employees and cadres in some areas. In addition, the number of corruption cases detected or handled falls too far short of the real situation.

The Government Chief Inspector, Tran Van Truyen said that in order to make anti-corruption activities more effective, it is essential to make public the operations of all agencies as well as the assets and incomes of cadres.

Accelerating administrative reform in an open and transparent manner and clarifying the duties and responsibilities of State employees is the task to combating corruption effectively, Mr Truyen noted.

PM Dung urged agencies at all levels to boost information campaigns on anti-corruption and combine them with the movement on studying and following the late President Ho Chi Minh’s moral example. It is important to increase the fighting spirit of Party organisations at grassroots level and increase the quality of inspection work to quickly uncover and deal with corruption cases.

The Government leader stressed that the task of combating corruption must be carried out more effectively in 2010, the last year of the five-year plan (2006-2010) that will see the organization of Party Congresses at all levels. Therefore, it is essential to boost anti-corruption work to develop the national economy and consolidate people’s trust in the Party, thus contributing to the development of Party organisations and authorities at all levels in a transparent and sustainable manner, he said.

Mr Dung asked agencies to accelerate administrative reform and establish institutions on anti-corruption. It is necessary to complete State management mechanisms in a transparent manner to prevent corruption in sensitive sectors, such as land use and management, taxation, customs, budget collection, construction and businesses equitisation.

The PM agreed to eight groups of anti-corruption solutions as worked out by the central steering committee on corruption prevention and control. He noted that implementing these solutions is a shared task of the whole political system and the entire society.