Deputies to the current 11^th National Assembly (NA) session on March 29 heard reports on the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Law from Chief Government Inspector Tran Van Truyen and Chairman of the NA Committee for Legal Affairs Vu Duc Khien.

The Anti-Corruption Law was issued on November 29, 2005 and took effect on June 1, 2006.

According to the 2006 economic inspection report, the State suffered a total loss of more than VND1,560 billion and nearly US$5.5 billion due to violations in financial management.

Functional agencies investigated and detected many big corruption cases in which 7 cases were prosecuted by the Procuracy, including the installation of fake electricity meters by HCM City's power company; the abuse of power by Mac Kim Ton, director of the Education and Training Department in Thai Binh; the bribery scandal in Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation; the fraud case involving Nguyen Lam Thai and post and telecommunication units and the illegal selling of garment and textile quotas by the Ministry of Trade.

The investigation into the corruption case of the Project Management Unit 18, the public property case involving Nguyen Duc Chi in Khanh Hoa province and the illegal allocation of public land in Do Son were completed for early prosecution according to the law.

Regarding the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Law, Head of the NA Committee for Legal Affairs Vu Duc Khien said the promulgation of guiding documents for the Anti-Corruption Law enforcement was still slow and There still remain some shortcomings in detecting and dealing with corruption cases which have become more complicated in various fields and many localities at different levels.

The NA also heard reports by Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh and Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Economics and Budget Committee Duong Thu Huong on the implementation of the Law on Thrift Practice and Wastefulness Prevention.

The reports noted that the implementation of the Law on Thrift Practice and Wastefulness Prevention has revealed some shortcomings, such as overspending and improper use of the budget. Some localities did not strictly follow regulations on investment and construction management. The allocation and disbursement of capital for investment projects is still done in a scattered manner. Furthermore, the loose management of capital construction has led to wastefulness, loss of investment capital and low quality of construction projects.

The NA Standing Committee’s report also mentioned the poor training and management of the labour force and the waste of working time. There are thousands of people who have been trained inside and outside the country but remain unemployed or get unsuitable jobs.

After hearing four reports on the implementation of the Law on Thrift Practice and Wastefulness Prevention and the Anti-corruption Law, NA Deputy Chairman Nguyen Van Yeu raised key questions as to the implementation of the two above-mentioned laws, the issuance of instruction documents, the establishment of anti-corruption organizations, the results of implementing the two laws, key tasks and measure and improve the supervising of the NA and People’s Council.