Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has said Vietnam’s war on corruption must begin yielding results, especially by curbing land and tax graft, which he said caused major losses to the state budget every year.

Chien said there had been fewer cases of public funds being used to buy personal assets such as cars or presents for personal acquaintances.

State Auditor General Vuong Dinh Hue city agreed, saying “Accounting showed that the state budget has been used for the right purposes.”

However, Tran Van Truyen, head of the State Inspectorate, said any inspection into land use and management would find wrongdoings.

Thus, the Prime Minister said more specific corruption reports would be required to fight the misuse of public land.

“We do not hope to solve all things at once, but we must create positive moves that come up with specific results,” he said.

Dung also called for a new tax payment regime that would not allow tax officials to reduce taxes for businesses in order to share the gains.

Pham Thi Hai Chuyen, vice chair of the Central Inspection Committee, blamed failed anti-corruption initiatives on the officials in charge.

Chien said that as Tet drew nearer, officials should try to prevent the traditional holiday from being turned a corruption-fest in the name of “gift-giving.”

Officials at the conference agreed to focus in the first quarter on three recent corruption cases: land misuse conducted by Hanoi commune chairman Nguyen Quoc Son that caused more than US$757,800 in losses to the state budget; Cao Minh Hue, former director of Binh Duong Department of Natural Resources and Environment, who is charged with abuse of power in having public land granted to family members; and mismanagement related to fuel hedging by former Jetstar Pacific director Luong Hoai Nam, which allegedly caused losses of more than US$30 million to the 70-percent state-owned firm.

Source: Tuoi Tre