Draft Law amending and supplementing the Law on Anti-Corruption: Perfecting regulations on declaration and transparency of assets and income

Discussing at Group 14 on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Anti-Corruption, National Assembly deputies from Quang Ninh, Ha Tinh and An Giang provinces agreed to perfect the regulations on declaration and transparency of assets and income and suggested that they should be clearly defined to ensure feasibility.

Discussion scene of Group 14

Delegates agreed with the draft Law on expanding the scope of anti-corruption to the private sector, adding a mechanism to control conflicts of interest, perfecting regulations on declaration and transparency of assets and income, and coordination mechanisms between inspection, auditing, and judicial agencies. National Assembly Delegate Tran Thi Kim Nhung ( Quang Ninh ) said that expanding the scope of anti-corruption to the private sector aims to institutionalize the Party's policy on anti-corruption in the private sector.

The draft law proposes to expand the obligation to declare assets to state-owned enterprises holding more than 50% of charter capital or in which the State holds the total number of voting shares. Delegate Tran Thi Kim Nhung noted that for these enterprises, the business owners and related entities can be Vietnamese citizens or foreigners.

"The regulation of asset declaration obligations for this subject may also be related to the confidentiality and privacy of foreigners and may somewhat affect the psychology of investors and the investment environment."

Therefore, delegate Tran Thi Kim Nhung suggested that it is necessary to consider having separate, appropriate regulations with specific characteristics for foreigners to limit the impact on the investment environment. According to the delegate, "it would be more appropriate if this measure were only applied to Vietnamese citizens."

Also interested in the regulations on asset declaration, National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Viet Thang ( An Giang ) agreed with Clause 4, Article 1 of the draft Law amending and supplementing Article 30 regulating the agency controlling assets and income.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Viet Thang (An Giang)

Accordingly, the Inspection Committee of the Party Committee at the level directly above the grassroots level shall control the assets and income of Party members who are cadres under the management of the Party Committee at the same level and Party members who are specialized in Party work or have positions in advisory agencies to assist the Party Committee according to the Party's regulations. Delegate Nguyen Viet Thang said that the inclusion of specific regulations on the agency controlling assets and income is appropriate because the draft Law stipulates many subjects with authority to control assets and income, including regulations assigned to local inspectors.

There is an opinion in the Committee on Law and Justice that there should not be specific regulations on subjects but only general regulations; the Party's authority will determine which agencies and subjects are subject to control. However, delegate Nguyen Viet Thang said that to ensure unity, synchronization and avoid overlap, it should be regulated right in the draft Law.

On the other hand, Clause 4, Article 1 of the draft Law amends Clause 5, Article 30 in the direction: Inspectorates of provinces and centrally run cities control the assets and income of people who are obliged to declare their work at agencies, organizations, units, and state-owned enterprises under the management authority of local authorities, except for the cases specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

According to delegate Nguyen Viet Thang, the scope of subjects subject to control is very wide, including subjects under the management of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, for example: Directors, Deputy Directors of departments and branches. Therefore, the specific provisions of Clauses 1 and 5 of Article 30 ensure to avoid overlap, contradiction and duplication among the subjects under control.

In addition, the draft Law also stipulates that declaring and explaining the origin of additional income assets is one of the criteria to evaluate and classify the task completion level of Party members, cadres, civil servants and public employees.

Delegates attending the group discussion session

Agreeing with the above regulation, delegate Nguyen Viet Thang also said that if it is only regulated like that, it may be difficult to implement because the draft Law does not assign the Government or any agency to specify the evaluation criteria. Therefore, the delegate suggested that the Government should specify this content.

Regarding the procedure for verifying assets and income, the draft Law stipulates that the representative of the asset and income control agency makes the decision. Considering that this provision is unclear and will be very difficult to implement, delegate Nguyen Viet Thang suggested that it is necessary to study and clearly define the representative in this content.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/du-thao-luat-sua-doi-bo-sung-luat-phong-chong-tham-nhung-hoan-thien-quy-dinh-ve-ke-khai-minh-bach-tai-san-thu-nhap-10394462.html