OVERVIEW OF THE TASKS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE
VIETNAMESE PEOPLE’S PROCURACY IN PREVENTION OF
AND FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
Chi Kien Hoang*
I. VIETNAMESE ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCIESThe system of Vietnamese anticorruption agencies encompasses the Central
Steering Committee for Directing Prevention and Anticorruption led by the Prime
Minister, provincial and municipal steering committees for anticorruption which are
under the direction of the Chairman of the People’s Committees of the respective
provinces or municipalities, and specialized anticorruption units belonging to theorganizations of the government inspectorate, public security and people’s procuracy.
II. THE PEOPLE’S PROCURACY
The people’s procuracy service in Vietnam was established in 1960. In
accordance with the constitution, the institution of people’s procuracy is one of the fourorgans constituting the State Structure, organized as an independent hierarchy from thecentral to local levels, and functioning under the centralized management and control ofProcurator General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy (SPP). The people’s procuracies
perform their functions and tasks through: (i) exercising the right to prosecute andsupervise the observance of the law in investigation and adjudication of criminal cases;(ii) supervising the observance of the law in the execution of judgments and decisions of
the courts, and in the temporary detention, preventive detention, management andeducation of prisoners; and (iii) directly conducting investigation in some types ofoffences against judicial activities, committed by officials of judicial bodies. Under theLaw on the Organization of the People’s Procuracy (2002), the Investigation Agency ofSPP is the only investigating body within the procuracy sector. The Investigation Agency
has authority to investigate some types of crimes of infringing upon judicial activities,*

Chief of Division of Research, Planning and General Matters, International Cooperation Department,
Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam.

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crimes of infringing upon the legitimate activities of investigating, procuracy,adjudicating and judgment-executing agencies, and crimes that are provided in Articles
292-314, Chapter XXII (Crimes of infringing upon judicial activities) of the Penal Code1999 (revised in 2009). Those types of crimes include making illegal decisions, applying
corporal punishment, forcing evidence or testimony, falsifying case dossiers, etc.
However, the authority of the Agency could be expanded to other types of crimes within
Chapter XXI (Positions of authority crimes) of the Penal Code 1999 (revised in 2009),
which include corruption crimes, in cases where the offenders are investigators,procurators, judges, or other judicial staff. The investigating bodies system within thepublic security (ordinary police and security police forces) sector is responsible forinvestigating the remaining types of crimes provided in the Penal Code.
Under Vietnam’s Law on Mutual Legal Assistance 2007 and numerous mutual
legal assistance treaties signed with other states, the SPP plays the role of a central
authority in mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, with its duties to receive, transfer,monitor and speed up the implementation of requests for mutual legal assistance incriminal matters, and propose revisions, supplements and further improvement to the law
on mutual legal assistance. Accordingly, the people’s procuracy has been coordinatingwith relevant domestic and foreign authorities in investigating, prosecuting and trying
criminals; particularly those who commit transnational organized crime, including
corruption.
III. THE SPECIALIZED ANTI-CORRUPTION UNIT OF THE SPP
1. Specialized anti-corruption units within the people’s procuracy sector
There are two units specializing in prosecution and supervision over investigationof corruption cases within people’s procuracies for the time being. The former belongs tothe SPP (i.e., at central level) and the latter belongs to the People’s Procuracy of Hanoi
City (i.e., at provincial level), whose personnel both are competent officials andprocurators who meet the requirements of qualification and integrity for the job.

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2. The functioning and powers of the specialized anti-corruption unit of the SPPThe Department of Public Prosecution and Supervision over the Investigation ofCorruption Crime of SPP (hereinafter referred to as the Department) was established in2006, and its performance must conform to the Law on the Organization of the People’s
Procuracy (2002) and the Regulations on Organization and Functioning of theDepartment (newly revised in 2011). In the mean time, officials and procurators of theDepartment are implementing their duties in accordance with the relevant provisions of
the domestic laws, including the Penal Code 1999 (revised in 2009), Criminal Procedure
Code 2003, the Anti-corruption Law 2005, Law on Mutual Legal Assistance 2007, etc.,
and international bilateral and multilateral treaties to which Vietnam is a party, thatinclude, inter alia, the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
Additionally, the Department is also functioning in effective cooperation withrelevant state agencies at the central level, such as the Office of Central Steering
Committee for Directing Prevention and Anticorruption, Ministry of Public Security,
Supreme People’s Court, Government Inspectorate, and State Audit. Thereby, theDepartment’s performance is in accordance with the coordinative regulation that issigned by those institutions on the prevention of and fight against corruption.1 Also, theDepartment is responsible for drafting regular reports submitted to the Central Steering
Committee for Directing Prevention and Anticorruption on the outcome of corruption
cases with specific statistics on quarterly, half-yearly, and yearly bases within the wholesystem of people’s procuracies.2
Under the Anti Corruption Law 2005, corrupt acts include:3(i) Embezzling properties;(ii) Taking bribes;(iii) Abusing positions of authority and/or powers to appropriate properties;

1

The Coordinative Regulation No. 01/QCPH dated 15 January 2009.
On the request of the Official Correspondence No. 16/CV-BCD dated 27 April 2007 of Central Steering
Committee for Directing Prevention and Anticorruption.
3Article 3 of the Anti-corruption Law.
2- 132 -(iv) Taking advantage of positions of authority and/or powers while performing
tasks or official duties for self-seeking benefit;(v) Abusing powers while performing tasks or official duties for self-seeking
benefit;(vi) Taking advantage of positions of authority or powers to influence otherpersons for self-seeking benefit;(vii) Committing forgeries in work for self-seeking benefit;(viii) Giving bribes or bribe brokerage by a person in a position of authority
and/or with power to settle affairs of agencies, organizations, units, or localities for selfseeking benefit;(ix) Taking advantage of positions of authority and/or powers to unlawfully use
state properties for self-seeking benefit;(x) Harassment for self-seeking benefit;(xi) Failure to perform tasks or official duties for self-seeking benefit;(xii) Taking advantage of positions of authority and/or powers to cover up for law
offenders for self-seeking benefit; illegally obstructing or intervening in examinations,inspections, auditing, investigations, prosecutions, adjudications, or court judgment
enforcement for self-seeking benefit.
Meanwhile, in daily practice, the Department is authorized to handle criminalcases involving seven types of corruption crimes as provided in Articles 278 - 284,Section A, Chapter XXI (Positions of authority crimes of the Penal Code 1999) (revisedin 2009), as follows: (i) embezzling properties (Article 278); (ii) receiving bribes (Article279); (iii) abusing positions of authority and/or powers to appropriate properties (Article280); (iv) taking advantage of positions of authority and/or powers while performing
official duties (Article 281); (v) abusing powers while performing official duties (Article282); (vi) taking advantage of positions of authority and/or powers to influence otherpersons for self-seeking benefit (Article 283); and (vii) committing forgeries in work
(Article 284).

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3. The annual reports of the Department
The annual work reports of the Department from 2008 to 2010 show that of thetotal number of corruption cases and defendants investigated for the above seven types ofcrime (i.e., 282 cases with 622 defendants in 2008, and 177 cases with 328 defendants inthe first 10 months of 2010),4 embezzling properties was the most prevalent offence (i.e.,
138 cases with 267 defendants and 88 cases with 157 defendants respectively) and thesecond largest number was the offence of taking advantage of positions of authority
and/or powers while performing official duties (49 cases with 182 defendants and 36
cases with 78 defendants respectively).
Those annual reports also indicate that the total number of sophisticated andserious corruption cases and defendants handled by the Department itself remained stable,i.e., 32 cases with 315 defendants, 36 cases with 269 defendants, and 35 cases with 244
defendants in 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively. In such corruption cases, there areseveral high profile cases that have been supervised and directed by the Central Steering
Committee for Directing Prevention and Anticorruption. Some of them required mutual
legal assistance from foreign competent authorities, and numerous defendants took
advantage of the positions of Vice Minister, Director General of big state-owned
enterprises, Senior Investigator, or Judge, etc., while performing official duties or
receiving bribes. The corruption crimes have been committed in a wide range of public
sectors, such as construction investment, trading, imports and exports, land usemanagement, large state projects, etc.
V. CONCLUSION
It could be said that the handling of corruption cases by the people’s procuracy
sector in general and by the Department in particular in the past three years was inaccordance with both of the national laws and relevant international conventions, whichguarantee the effective investigations and prosecutions of crimes and ensure that justice isdone and that the guilty shall not escape justice. The Department, functioning in close

4

The Annual Work Report of 2009 had not updated the statistics for the corruption cases and defendants
that were initiated by the investigation agencies on the above seven types of crimes in 2009.

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collaboration with relevant state agencies, has achieved significant results. However,those annual reports also reflected the fact that the number of corruption cases that had
been detected, investigated, prosecuted and tried by the law enforcement agencies is still
moderate in comparison to other types of crime in the same period. During the fact
finding process of some complex corruption cases, the investigations still exceed theregulatory time frame.
In order to enhance the effectiveness of the people’s procuracy service in handing
corruption cases, the following major issues should be considered:(i) Continuing to establish the units specializing in prosecution and supervision
over investigation of corruption cases at the provincial people’s procuracies, especiallywhere more corruption acts have been committed, in order to set up a network within theprocuracy sector to receive and deal with corruption crime reports or information
effectively.
(ii) Enhancing the cooperation with the government inspectorates in handlingalleged acts of corruption when they are detected and sending the files to the people’s
procuracy together with the request to initiate investigations. Thereby, the government
inspectorates should be seen as one of the important channels within the executive branchwhich provide the procuracy with crime reports and information.
(iii) Considering a proposal to revise and supplement Articles 103, 104 and 126 of
the Criminal Procedure Code 2003 by setting forth the powers of the procuracy to
examine crime reports or information and initiate the investigations themselves, because
the current Code lacks stipulations of investigation agencies’ responsibilities in the casethat they do not follow directions or instructions given by the procuracies.
(iv) Strengthening discussions with investigating agencies in order to draw
lessons and experience from handling complex corruption cases to avoid undue andlengthy investigation processes.

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(v) Raising the quality of issuing judicial requests to the heads of the institutions
or organizations within administrative, economic, or social sectors, where corrupt acts
have been committed, to take all necessary measures to prevent such violations in thefuture. This is one of the remaining powers since the procuracy has no longer had thepower to supervise the operation of those institutions after 2002.
(vi) Improving facilities for specialized units of prosecution and supervision overinvestigation of corruption cases, especially applying IT in case files management within
the procuracy sector. Although the information technology has been developed for a fewyears, the records system sometimes causes errors that limit its positive effects.

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