Hanoi (VNA) – Party General Secretary and President To Lam on August 14 chaired a meeting of the Central Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Corruption and Negative Phenomena.

The Hanoi meeting looked into the work in the first half of this year and tasks for the remainder, along with the handling of cases under the monitoring of the committee, and the performance of provincial steering committees in the realm.

Lam, who is also head of the committee, lauded efforts by relevant agencies in speeding up the investigation and handling of cases, with unprecedented ones detected over the past time.

He asked all-level Party committees and organisations, and competent agencies to maintain their guard in the time ahead, continuing strong and harmonious solutions to corruption and other negative phenomena with the motto of “no off-limits zones, no exceptions, no privileges, no matter who”.

The leader stressed that the fight must serve socio-economic development, and it should go in tandem with the organisation of all-level Party congresses and the 14th National Party Congress, so that those that commit corrupt acts, violate Party rules and State laws, and show degradation of political ideology, morality and lifestyle have no chance to enter all-level Party committees.

He ordered pushing ahead with the building and perfection of relevant mechanisms, improving the efficiency of countermeasures as well as the information work, effectively implementing regulations set for officials and Party members in the new period, strictly handling wrongdoings within the agencies tasked with combating corruption and negative phenomena, and promoting the role of people-elected agencies, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organisations, the press circle and the public in the fight.

He suggested the inclusion of anti-corruption contents into regular meetings of Party cells, stressing the need to improve the operational efficiency of provincial steering committees and step up the fight in localities.

Specifically, the leader requested focusing on dealing with limitations and completing pending tasks, and accelerating the verification and investigation of serious and complex cases of public concern. He also called for efforts to complete the investigation, prosecution, and settlement of 30 cases by the year-end, and handle six others under the instruction and monitoring of the central steering committee.

Lam listed other tasks such as stepping up the building and perfection of relevant institutions, raising the efficiency of inspection, supervision and auditing, notably in the areas prone to corruption and negative phenomena, bettering the communications work, and creating changes in the corruption fight in localities.

According to a report presented at the meeting, in the first half of this year, all-level Party committees and inspection committees disciplined 308 Party organisations and 11,005 Party members. The Party Central Committee, and its Politburo, Secretariat and Inspection Commission imposed disciplinary measures against 47 officials under the management of the Party Central Committee.

♚ Since the beginning of this year, competent authorities have agreed to let 14 officials under the management of the Party Central Committee and 172 others under the management of local Party Committees cease holding positions and stop working, or assigned other tasks to them in consideration of their responsibility as heads of agencies or their part in corruption cases. They included five Politburo members, one member of the Secretariat, and four members of the Party Central Committee./.