CURRENT ISSUES IN THE INVESTIGATION, PROSECUTION AND
ADJUDICATION OF CORRUPTION CASES IN VIETNAM
Hoang Hai Yen *I.

OVERVIEW

Corruption is a phenomenon that affects virtually every country in the world. Corruption not
only causes serious damage to public resources but also reduces people’s trust in the government
and laws. Along with globalization, corruption beyond the country’s borders and anti-corruption
efforts have become urgent and critical missions that require joint efforts of the wholeinternational community.
Vietnam has been promoting the fight against corruption. The guidelines, policies and lawsof Vietnam express a strong determination to prevent and eliminate corruption. In 2005, thegovernment adopted the Anti-Corruption Law, which criminalizes several types of corruption,
establishes asset disclosure requirements for governmental officials, and establishes whistleblower protection. Vietnam ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption(UNCAC) in 2009, adopting an implementation plan in the following year. The country has
participated in several regional and world forums against corruption, has endorsed the AntiCorruption Action Plan for Asia and the Pacific in July 2004, and has joined the South-East
Asian Parliamentarians against Corruption (SEA-PAC).
However, Vietnam still suffers from a poor ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index. In
the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the perceived levels of public sector
corruption, Vietnam performed below average with a score of 29 on a 0 (highly corrupt) to 100(highly clean) scale. Vietnam ranked 112 out of 182 assessed countries worldwide and 21st outof 35 countries in the Asia Pacific region. Vietnam has performed poorly in its control ofcorruption, showing little or no improvement over a year. Specifically, the ranking of Vietnam in
the Corruption Perceptions Index has not changed significantly from 2012 to 2013. In 2012,
Vietnam ranked 123rd out of 174 assessed countries worldwide with a score of 31 on a 0 to 100scale. The 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index sees Vietnam up just seven spots to 116th out of177 countries and territories with the same score as 2012. In Southeast Asia, it ranks seventh
behind Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia. Transparency
International’s comment that poorer countries have higher corruption rates is accurate in the caseof Vietnam.
The National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020 by the government highlighted that the systemof policies and laws has not been well synchronized or well aligned; especially there is the lackof a comprehensive long-term strategy or plan for preventing and combating corruption. This*

Lecturer, The Prosecutor’s Assistance, The Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam.

- 132 -means that, Vietnam does not have a strong judiciary and that investigation, prosecution andadjudication face many difficulties and obstacles.
II.

ACTUAL CORRUPTION CASES AND PROBLEMS IN VIETNAM

A. Actual Corruption Cases
In Vietnam, corruption happens in many areas, many levels, and many industries withsimilarities as well as differences from corruption of other countries. Corruption is widespread,which means that it happens mainly in the economic sector, but it spreads to other areas which
are considered as standards of morality, such as education, healthcare, social policy
implementation, humanitarian issues and so on. Corruption even occurs in the Police,
Prosecutor’s Office and in Court. Sectors most affected by corruption in Vietnam are publicadministration; the judiciary; the police; the health sector; education; environment, naturalresources and extractive industries; and land management.
In the area of management and usage of lands, minerals, and other natural resources, somepeople were abusing their positions and powers while on duty by acting ultra vires. The
complexity, discretion and secrecy involved in the process of issuance of the Land User
Certificate could encourage corrupt behaviour, as investors resort to paying bribes to land
officials in exchange for information privileges and for expediting procedures. For example,abuse of power while on duty occurs in urban-infrastructure projects. For example, in Bac ThangLong – Van Tri, Ha Noi, damage is estimated at 14 billion VND (about 700,000 USD); anothercase happened in Ben Cat district, Binh Duong province, causing nearly 11 billion VND indamages. The most infamous case in Vietnam this year is Duong Chi Dung, the Chairman of theBoard of the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines Group). He raised the price of marine
materials, adjusted the total price of project investment and then embezzled 1,660 billion USD.
In the field of finance and banking, some bank officials, especially in commercial banks,
collude with outside persons through activities such as lending, guarantees, financial leasing,financial investment, entrusted loans, investment committees and so on to appropriate property.
For instance, Huyen Nhu, Head of Dien Bien Phu Trading Division, Viettinbank – Ho Chi Minh
City branch, had created eight fake seals to set up contracts, vouchers, and pay high interest tomobilize capital of organizations and individuals. He then appropriated nearly 4,000 billion VND(approximately 200 million USD). In another case, Thu Ha, Director of the northern branch ofSaigon Jewelry Corporation (SJC), abused her position and power while on duty in the amountof 19 billion VND.
In the area of capital construction investment, the majority of construction projects result in
financial losses because of corruption and other violations of the law. Violations occurred inmost stages, from project planning, design, cost estimates to bidding, consulting, supervision,construction, testing and finalization of the project. In many cases, companies fail to comply
with procedures of capital construction investment; commit fraud and lack of transparency in thebidding; use poor quality materials and equipment or use unreasonable or improper methods andprocesses to reduce costs. For instance, Huynh Ngoc Si, Director of Avenue East-West ProjectManagement, Ho Chi Minh City, took a bribe of 260,000 USD to review the bid and accepted
the bid to the benefit of the person offering the bribe.

- 133 -

In management, a major problem is the misuse of state funds and assets, and a number ofpeople still use public property for private purposes or convert state property into private
property, as in the case Bui Tien Dung, Unit Highway 18 Project Management (PMU 18), tolend ten expensive cars.
In the area of justice, some judicial officers abuse their positions and powers to accept bribes
in order to remove or mitigate crime in the process of investigation, prosecution, trial andexecution. For example, Ha Cong Tuan, Judge of the People’s Court of Quang Ninh province,
was arrested when accepting 200 million VND in bribes to mitigate a punishment for thedefendant. The latest case, Le Sy Thuan, a judge’s assistant in Thanh Hoa province, wasprosecuted for accepting a bribe of 30 million VND to falsify evidence.
In addition to the above areas, corruption happens quite commonly in the relationshipbetween State agencies, public officials with enterprises and individuals, such as with the traffic
police, in education, in the health sector, with tax officials and so on. According to theperceptions of Vietnamese urban citizens, the police are perceived to be the sector most affectedby corruption, followed by education, public officials, the judiciary and the business sector(Transparency International 2010). Citizens also often report paying between USD 10 to USD 30
as bribes to the traffic police when they violate traffic laws to avoid enforcement. In addition,nepotism and favouritism are also widespread within the police. The education sector is also
perceived as one of the most corrupt sectors in Vietnam, including corruption in the constructionof schools and in the provision of school books and other teaching supplies; payment of bribesby schools and teachers in exchange for awards recognizing false achievements and credentials;
payment of bribes by students and parents to obtain good marks and enrolment in desired schools
and classes; misappropriation of money intended for student support, among others.
B. Problems in Investigation, Prosecution and Adjudication
1. Difficulties in Identifying Corrupt Acts and Individuals
Corruption is a white-collar crime along with fraud, bribery, insider trading, cybercrime,
copyright infringement, money laundering, identity theft and forgery. However, it does not meanthat every police officer, prosecutor or judge can identify them. Most of corruption cases areoften hidden for a long time before being discovered. Vietnam has been changing from asocialist command economy to a market economy with both private and public ownership of thefactors of production. Offenders often abuse this situation to convert state money into theirprivate money. Furthermore, corruption cases often occur in many fields of governance such aseducation, economics, justice, infrastructure construction and so on. It requires investigators,
prosecutors, lawyers, judges and juries to have wide knowledge and skills to handle such cases.
Corruption crimes are committed by people who have expert knowledge and skills in their job
and wide knowledge of the law as well. So they are able to figure out loopholes that help them
perform criminal acts. In Vietnam, we face many difficult problems with investigation ofcorruption crimes because of the lack of experts and experience.
In the case of Huyen Nhu, she is very good at finance, which allowed her to link customers
in many banks, and she built an illegal lending system between them. By opening fake accounts
with fake signatures, she defrauded her clients, and she made over 127 fraudulent documents;- 134 -

deprived her clients of 4,000 billion VND (approximately 200 million USD) in deposit accountsof three companies, four banks and 50 billion VND of more than 30 people. This case was a
typical Ponzi scheme—a fraudulent investment operation where the operator, an individual ororganization, pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors,
rather than from profit earned by the operator. In Vietnam, people rarely know about this kind offraud, and it was very difficult to find evidence among huge numbers of victims.
2.

Difficulties in Investigation, Prosecution and Adjudication of Corruption Cases
Firstly, there are many problems in collecting and protecting evidence in corruption cases
because most of these cases concern powerful leaders in government who abuse their positions
and conceal their crimes. It is a fact that many corruption cases have not been discovered for thisreason. Offenders often use technology to conceal their crimes. After being detected, offenders
hide, falsify or destroy documents, making it difficult to collect evidence. After charging
suspects, prosecutors must continue to handle evidence in such a way that it is admissible andpersuasive in court. It is very important to protect evidence because it impacts whether or notcorruption crimes will result in conviction. Offenders often deny guilt or keep silent in court. If
evidence is not strong enough to incriminate offenders, prosecutors will lose the case.
In the case of Duong Chi Dung, he had good relationships with leaders in the government,
and his brother was a senior policeman in the city in which his company was located. He
committed a crime and escaped easily. He had been engaging in corruption for seven years.
According to the investigation agency, the Ministry of Public Security: “this case caused serious
damages, [was] very complex and affected [the] reputation of the Vietnamese government”.
After being detected, he fled to Cambodia with the help of his brother and a senior officer in theMinistry of Public Security. The investigation agency arrested him by an international arrest
warrant with the Interpol Notice. The Vietnamese government had lost a lot of time, effort andmoney to solve this case.
Secondly, another difficulty in investigating and prosecuting corruption cases isinternational cooperation because many corruption cases are related to foreigners or internationalorganizations. Vietnamese police and prosecutors have to ask other countries for help to gatherevidence. Much key evidence can only be collected abroad, but we do not have authority toinvestigate overseas so we need help from other countries. However, the results of international
cooperation were not what we had expected, or it took a long time to get the results and so on. Itwas easier working with countries that we had entered into treaties with on Mutual Legal
Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition than it was with countries that we had not enteredinto treaties with.
Also in the case Duong Chi Dung, there was key evidence that Dung signed an approval
decision of buying a floating dock named 83M from Russia. He bribed intermediary companies
to falsify contracts of sale and payment and then raised the price to twice the normal amount.
This means that he converted state property into his private property. We had to ask for help
from the Internal Affairs Department of Russia to collect this information. After arresting Dungin Cambodia, we had to have him extradited to Vietnam based on the Vietnam-Cambodia Treaty
on Mutual Legal Assistance.

- 135 -Thirdly, the use of expert witnesses suffers from many inadequacies because determining
loss of property is the first thing to prove in a corruption case. If we cannot demonstrate damage
to property, then no crime has occurred. Investigators must have financial and accounting
expertise, technical expertise and quality construction expertise and so on. These are importantsources of evidence to prove the crime, and sometimes they are the only source of evidence.
However, agencies which are needed for their expertise are often uncooperative or are afraid of
testifying in open court.
Lastly, corruption cases in Vietnam often involve accomplices, which means that there are atleast two people who committed the crime. In some cases, this number can be larger. Offenders
often have colluded closely using sophisticated tricks. The more people that are involved in thecrime, the more successful the crime is. This problem is also difficult for investigators andprosecutors in Vietnam. In a corruption case, we have to select investigators and prosecutors whohave the experience and knowledge of measures for dealing with this type of crime, but we do
not have enough people who meet those requirements. Moreover, anti–corruption in Vietnam isquite sensitive, and it directly attacks powerful people in the government so that investigatorsand prosecutors refuse to investigate because they do not want the corrupt conspirators toretaliate against them. Additionally, some judicial officers have been bribed, and they continue toabet corruption crimes.
III. SOLUTIONS TO AND NEW IDEAS FOR ANTI–CORRUPTION IN VIETNAM
To improve preventing and combating corruption in Vietnam, we suggest the following
solutions:Firstly, it is necessary to promote education, improve awareness and establish a sense ofresponsibility within the Communist Party and among all citizens, the state and the unions. They
should have a comprehensive and deep understanding that corruption is a crime and that it is also
an indicator of degenerating morality and personality, degrading lifestyle, and is the internal
enemy existing inside each person. The employees and civil servants must be trained in thecourses of servant morality before working. Raising social pressure to severe criticism forcorruption and reporting cases of corruption through the media is an example.
Secondly, the Government has to strive to improve its legal systems and promote the lives ofpublic servants. We should make changes, adjustments and amend legal provisions which areinaccurate or unclear in order to minimize the abuse of loopholes. Corruption crimes must be
considered as crimes; we must punish the evil to protect the good. Corruption must be punished;
the higher positions and powers they have, the heavier punishment they will get when theyengage in corruption; there must be no restricted areas, no exceptions.
Thirdly, Vietnam needs to have policies to protect whistleblowers and their families fromdefendants and violators. At present, legal protection for whistleblowers is insufficient;whistleblowers are afraid of retaliation; thus would-be whistleblowers do not dare to denounce
the criminals. Likewise, it is necessary to impose strict penalties against persons responsible for
their behaviour. Vietnam should have a “resignation mechanism” for those who do not deserve- 136 -to stay in office, make mistakes or are guilty of crimes. The result of Vietnam’s anti-corruption
efforts has been ineffective; however, no one takes responsibility or resigns as a result.
Furthermore, Vietnam should add provisions about forfeiture of corruption proceeds to theAct on Prevention and Combating Corruption. That would help to verify and trace theappropriated property in order to increase the percentage of recovered property and corruption
proceeds.
Next, Vietnam must have an independent organization created and coordinated by theNational Assembly which is given full rights to fight against corruption. This organization
should include elite, talented, fair and responsible persons. This organization should be put under
the supervision of the People, and officials of this organization can be dismissed by vote of thePeople.
Finally, Vietnam should reinforce international cooperation in identifying and handlingcorruption acts by delegating investigations or requesting foreign agencies to verify, freeze andconfiscate corruption proceeds originated in those foreign countries or sent to those countries
from Vietnam. Vietnam should reinforce cooperation in preventing money laundering activities,
enhance mutual assistance in investigation, and detect and identify money laundering offences.
Fighting against corruption is a difficult, long-term battle that requires strategic measures. It
is hoped that these measures will reverse the increasing trend of corruption in Vietnam, which
will improve Vietnam’s ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index in the near future.

- 137 -