RECENT GVN ANTI-CORRUPTION EFFORTS: SMOKE AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 002412

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/20/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PHUM KCOR VM
SUBJECT: RECENT GVN ANTI-CORRUPTION EFFORTS: SMOKE AND
MIRRORS OR THE BEGINNING OF AN EARNEST EFFORT?

REF: A. HANOI 2134


B. HANOI 2143

C. HANOI 848

D. HANOI 771

E. HANOI 1090

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Classified By: DCM Jon Aloisi per 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) Summary and Comment: In the wake of several
high-profile corruption scandals, the GVN is taking steps,
both substantive and symbolic, to address corruption
involving government and Communist Party officials. In
August, the National Assembly Standing Committee passed a
resolution specifying the structure and scope of a newly
created Central Steering Committee Against Corruption. The
Steering Committee, headed by the Prime Minister, has the
authority to suspend officials that are involved in
corruption or that hinder the fight against corruption. Also
in August, Vietnam's new leadership issued a resolution that
will allow law enforcement agencies to initiate corruption
investigations and prosecutions of officials without prior
approval by the Communist Party. It remains to be seen
whether these and other measures, such as a gift ban
targeting government officials, will be genuinely effective
or are merely window dressing to placate an increasingly
disgusted public. In addition to government efforts, our
interlocutors said that a stronger role for the press and
mass organizations could help uncover corruption and
encourage transparency. End Summary and Comment.

New Committee to Crack Down on Corruption...
--------------


2. (SBU) On August 28, the National Assembly Standing
Committee (NASC) passed a resolution laying out the structure
and scope of the Central Steering Committee against
Corruption (Steering Committee),to be established in
accordance with the Anti-Corruption Law that took effect on
June 1, 2006. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung will head the
multi-agency Steering Committee, whose members will include
the Government's Chief Inspector, Ministers of Public
Security and Culture and Information, General Procurator of
the Supreme People's Procuracy (SPP),Presiding Judge of the
Supreme People's Court (SPC),Vice Chairmen of the Party's
Control Commission and Internal Affairs Commission and a Vice
Minister of National Defense. Deputy Prime Minister Truong
Vinh Trong, also Chairman of the Party's Internal Affairs
Commission, will serve as the Deputy Head of the Steering
Committee (Ref A). One standing member will be responsible
for coordinating the Steering Committee's day-to-day
activities, and for supervising the Steering Committee's
Executive Office, a separate and independent institution that
will have the status of a ministry.


3. (SBU) The resolution empowers the Prime Minister, as head
of the Steering Committee, to suspend deputy ministers, other
officials of equivalent rank, chairmen of provincial People's
Councils and People's Committees and other officials
nominated by the Prime Minister, who are allegedly involved
in corruption or hinder the fight against corruption. The
Prime Minister may also ask agencies and organizations to
consider dismissal of any other officials, including but not
limited to deputy prime ministers, ministers, chairmen of
party commissions, and office directors within the
President's Office and the Office of the National Assembly.
According to recent public comments by National Assembly (NA)
Vice Chairman Nguyen Van Yeu, this provision means there will
not be any exceptions as the Steering Committee considers
corruption cases that involve high-ranking officials. Yeu
noted, however, that the Steering Committee will not mete out
punishment for individual cases. It will only provide
general guidance and instructions, and will not directly
intervene in any specific arrests or prosecutions.


4. (SBU) Nguyen Phu Trong, Politburo member and Chairman of
the National Assembly, told the press that the Steering
Committee will be affiliated with and report to the Communist
Party of Vietnam's (CPV) Central Committee and the Politburo.
He confirmed that decisions made by the Prime Minister as
Chairman of the Steering Committee to deal with ministers and
secretaries and/or chairmen of provincial Party Committees

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and People's Committees will still be subject to approval in
advance from the Politburo, the institution responsible for
the overall management of top-ranking personnel. The
Politburo will also deal with any "abuse of power" by the
Steering Committee, which is to operate according to the
principle of "centralized democracy," Trong asserted.

...but at Least One Official Begs to Differ

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--------------


5. (C) Office of the National Assembly (ONA) Deputy Director
Dr. Nguyen Sy Dzung told us that the Steering Committee's
organization is "wrong in concept." "It is disappointing to
many people that officials of the judiciary and procuracy
(prosecQor's office) are included on the Steering
Committee," he said. The Steering Committee should only
serve as an institution of the executive branch, to focus on
speeding up investigation of corruption cases. The judicial
branch should remain separate and unfettered to make their
own judgments regarding prosecutions, he continued. The
current make-up of the membership of the Steering Committee
will eventually turn it into a consensus-based institution,
upon which the Prime Minister, as the head, could easily
exercise his influence over other members. Former Prime
Minister Vo Van Kiet said publicly that he did not support
the idea of having leaders of the People's Procuracy and the
Supreme Court on the Steering Committee, but apparently his
voice has not been heard, Dr. Dzung claimed.


6. (C) However, in a separate meeting, Pham Quoc Anh,
Chairman of the Vietnam Lawyers Association and former
Director of the President's Office, said that the
establishment of the Steering Committee is a "logical and
inevitable" step. While corruption has become an extremely
serious problem that could threaten the existence of the
regime, the establishment of an independent ministry/agency
to deal with corrupt officials and corruption cases appears
to be impossible given the country's current political
structure of Party organizations and GVN offices. He noted,
however, that the Steering Committee's Executive Office will
have the status of a ministry. Tran Quoc Vuong, currently a
deputy director of the Office of the CPV (with the rank of
vice minister),may likely be promoted to become the standing
member of the Steering Committee, Anh said.


7. (C) According to Anh, the standing member of the Steering
Committee will have an extremely important role to play in
coordinating multi-agency efforts against corruption, given
the fact that all other Standing Committee members apparently
will not do Standing Committee work on a full-time basis. He
described Deputy Director Vuong as a "capable guy," called NA
Chairman Trong a "clean and quite decisive figure despite his
relatively low academic background" and claimed that these
two officials may help speed up overall anti-corruption
efforts.

Anti-Corruption Resolution, Gift Ban
--------------


8. (C) Earlier in August, the CPV Central Committee released
a resolution of the Third Plenum on anti-corruption work (Ref
B). The resolution allows law enforcement agencies to
investigate and prosecute any official allegedly involved in
corruption. Law enforcement agencies will not need approval
in advance from the Party committee that supervises the
official. According to Le Van Lan, a deputy department
director from the Party's Internal Affairs Commission, law
enforcement agencies will be more active in pursuing corrupt
officials, as they will not have to receive the Party
committee's "go-ahead." Concerning other possible specific
measures to promote inspections, investigations and
prosecutions of corrupt officials, the CPV Central Committee
has set guidelines to synchronize the Party's oversight of
ranking officials and the Government's inspections against
corruption, a formula that has been proven to be "very
effective" in China, according to Lan.


9. (C) Both Dzung and Anh believe this "leeway" granted to
law enforcement agencies may be significant in the fight
against corruption. However, Dzung expressed doubt that this
resolution, together with the establishment of the Steering
Committee, would bring notable progress. Rather, he
suggested that these actions should only be seen as public
gestures, without a strong political commitment by the new
leadership. While some "clean faces" have appeared in the
top leadership, namely standing member to the Party
Secretariat Truong Tan Sang and State President Nguyen Minh

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Triet, Nong Duc Manh (whose family members were implicated in
the recent PMU-18 scandal -- Ref C),retained the top
position in the CPV. Not much change is expected among the
mid-level positions, Dzung surmised.


10. (C) In late August, the Ministry of Finance announced a
draft Government decree to prohibit the use of money from the
State budget to buy gifts for high-ranking officials. The
draft decree also bans Government employees from giving and
accepting gifts worth over VND 500,000 (roughly USD 31) in

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value. However, Tran Dai Hung, a vice chairman of the
Party's Internal Commission, admitted to us that there is no
effective mechanism to control the giving and accepting of
gifts by GVN employees. On September 13, the Government
Inspectorate conducted a conference to gather comments on a
draft decree that would require the declaration of assets and
property by a wide-range of elected and appointed officials.
"Assets and property" include: real estate; precious metals
and stones; money and other assets worth more than VND 50
million (roughly USD 3,100); and, money in bank accounts
abroad. Following further comment by officials from the
provinces and ministries/branches, this draft decree will be
submitted to the National Assembly during its upcoming
session.

PM Accelerates Investigations of Key Corruption Cases
-------------- --------------


11. (SBU) On August 30, Prime Minister Dzung publicly called
on the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to quickly finalize
the ongoing PMU-18 (Refs D and E) investigation involving
high-ranking MPS official General Oanh, who was once regarded
as "on track" to become a vice minister of public security
and Central Committee member. The Prime Minister also asked
MPS to speed up an investigation of misconduct by the chief
government inspector and his deputy involving a prominent
corruption case at the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation. On
September 11, MPS held a press conference at which ranking
MPS officials revealed some information concerning their
investigations. They also pledged to make public their
conclusion concerning General Oanh's involvement in the
PMU-18 case soon.


12. (SBU) On September 1, Prime Minister Dzung sent an
official letter to the General Procurator, the Supreme
People's Court Presiding Judge and Deputy Prime Minister
Trong asking them to consider re-trying three former ranking
officials from the town of Do Son who were allegedly involved
in a well-known, land-related corruption case in Haiphong.
Earlier, on August 28, the Haiphong City People's Court had
ruled that the three officials would be administratively
"reprimanded" and fined VND 50,000 (roughly USD 3) each, a
decision that aroused extreme public disapproval. Local
newspapers reported that the Chairman of the Haiphong
People's Committee had separately sent official letters to
leaders of the Supreme People's Procuracy and MPS's
Investigation Office for a pardon for the three officials.
Local media also reported that before the trial took place,
the Secretary of the Haiphong Municipal Party Committee met
with procurators and judges of the municipal People's Court
and instructed them to come up with sentences that were lower
than what is prescribed in the Criminal Code. On September
5, the Supreme People's Court and Procuracy responded to the
public indignation and jointly announced that a new
investigation would be conducted, soon to be followed by a
new trial.

"The Press Could Play an Important Role"
--------------


13. (C) Both Dzung and Anh spoke highly of the role of the
Vietnamese press at present. Dzung said the press and media
have become even more courageous and independent in their
coverage of corruption-related issues. They have learned how
to protect themselves against the influence of and
counter-attacks by the Ministry of Culture and Information
and the CPV's Commission for Ideological and Cultural
Affairs. Given the current high level of public attention,
no ranking officials, except for those in the very top
positions, can take lightly scrutiny by the press. According
to Dzung, the only way to make real progress in curbing
corruption would be to offer an "amnesty" to officials that
would cover all activities prior to a certain date. But
since such an amnesty is not possible due to the political
sensitivity of such a move, Dzung asserted that the best way
to detect and fight against corruption at the moment is to
help maintain a strong role for the press and media.


14. (C) The media remains far from immune to official
pressure. At the time public attention was focused on the
land-related corruption case in Haiphong, a national TV
channel canceled their prime-time broadcast of a report on
the case. Later, in response to inquiries from the public,
TV officials announced that the cancellation was not made at
the request of or due to opposition from the Haiphong
People's Committee. A local television journalist said the
cancellation was actually made at the request of the Party's
Commission for Ideological and Cultural Affairs. One way to
strengthen the press in the face of official pressure would

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be to educate members of the media about their role with
respect to general anti-corruption efforts, the Vietnam
Lawyers Association's Anh told us. According to him, the
media has on occasion appeared to provide misleading
information or to be judgmental in its coverage of corruption
cases, and avoiding these pitfalls would improve the media's
standing in Vietnam.


15. (C) Another tool to promote anti-corruption efforts would
be to improve the role of mass organizations in detecting
corruption cases, especially those at the grassroots level,
Anh continued. Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) officials
confirmed that the VFF is now working on a draft law on
"social interaction" which would allow socio-political
organizations to become more engaged in the policy-making
process and in supervising civil servants, Anh said.

Comment
--------------


16. (C) Despite highly publicized initiatives to fight
corruption, public opinion remains divided on whether the
newly-introduced measures can actually work, fueled by
reports that corruption is spreading among government
employees at all levels. It remains to be seen to what
extent high-level Party and government officials are actually
willing to clamp down on endemic corruption that has long
been a way of life for officials at all levels (Ref D). We
agree that the media is a critical element in making
progress, provided they are allowed to continue their current
work of promoting transparency and public awareness. End
Comment.
MARINE