Hanoi (VNA) – In the rule-of-law spirit, the Vietnamese Party and Statehave resolutely handled officials who committed violations of law, especiallythose holding high-level positions, towards building a pure and strong Party,raising the Party’s prestige and consolidating public trust in the Party.  

Thestrict and transparent punishment for officials with violations has won supportand praise of Party members and officials, and people over the past time.

However,hostile elements have spread distorted information and twisted the truth about thesettlement of violations and personnel work in an attempt to undermine unity inthe Party and erode public trust.

Duringits 90-year history, the Party has always paid special attention to Partybuilding work, considering this a “key task”, with the personnel work “the keyof the key task.”

Partybuilding work, therefore, has been implemented continuously through the nine decades,in which the fight against corruption and other bad deeds, along with thediscipline and punishment of Party members and officials committing violationsis a crucial task, as late President Ho Chi Minh had said “Embezzlement,wastefulness and red tape are the enemy of the people, soldiers and theGovernment.”

Overthe past 75 years, under the Party’s leadership, the Vietnamese army and peoplehave won glorious victories during the struggle for national independence, andVietnam has continuously developed, with people’s living standards improvedsignificantly and the country’s position and prestige enhanced in theinternational arena.

However,apart from these great, historic achievements, certain limitations andshortcomings remain and new problems arise.

Themarket mechanism and integration process have exerted adverse impacts, underwhich not a few Party members and officials have shown signs of degradation, appropriatedpublic assets, causing extremely severe consequences.

Manycorruptive cases have been detected and brought to light, particularly seriouscases under the direction of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption.

Attentionhas also been paid to asset recovery in corruptive crimes, with 37 trillion VND(nearly 1.6 billion USD) recovered in the first half of this year.

Manydefendants committed serious violations while holding high-level positions inParty and State agencies, and they have been punished appropriately, such asformer Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son who has beenjailed for life for “taking bribes” and “violating regulations on themanagement and use of public investment capital, causing serious consequences.”

TruongMinh Tuan, also former Minister of Information and Communications, wassentenced to 14 years behind bars for the same charges. Meanwhile, Nguyen VanHien, former Deputy Defence Minister and former Commander of the VietnamPeople’s Navy was sentenced to four years in prison for “lack of responsibilitycausing serious consequences.”

Morethan 100 officials under the management of the Party Central Committee,including those holding high positions, have been given strict punishments inParty, administration and criminal regards during this term, which demonstratesthe drastic and effective anti-corruption fight that is becoming a trend.

However,hostile forces have never ceased to seek ways to sabotage the revolutionarycause of the Party and people.

Priorto each National Party Congress, they intentionally spread distortedinformation alleging that the punishment of corrupt officials is just “internalfight,” “struggle of political factions” and “huge failures of personnel workunder the Party leadership.”

Theysaid without any grounds that the violations by Party members and officialswere attributable to “the Party’s weak capacity and the lack of democracy inthe personnel work”, and that personnel work has only served group interests.

Withthe allegations, they called for a change of political regime and abolition ofthe leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Thoseout-of-tune voices, however, could not reverse the political resolve of theentire Party and people in the fight against corruption and other bad deeds, inan effort to build and rectify the Party, making it purer and stronger,matching the aspirations of the entire Party and people, for the interests andeverlasting development of the nation./.