Vietnam reports severer economic crimes in 2005

Vietnam detected 11,134 economic crimes, including corruption, smuggling, counterfeiting, tax evasion and intellectual property violation, in 2005, local media reported Tuesday.

The economic crimes caused an estimated loss of 2,311 billion Vietnamese dong (VND) (over 145.3 million U.S. dollars), People's Army quoted a source from the country's Ministry of Public Security. Each of big corruption cases in important economic fields resulted in a loss of several million dollars.

Vietnam unearthed 10,083 cases of smuggling, transporting and trading forbidden counterfeit goods in 2005, and confiscated goods totaling 819 billion VND (51.5 million dollars), up 41.3 percent in the case number and nine times higher than the value in 2004.

At a conference held by the ministry in June 2005 to review operations against smuggling and corruption, the ministry reported they had uncovered 176,534 economic crimes in the 1993-2004 period, including 9,960 cases of corruption.

Relevant agencies prosecuted 13,892 people involved in the economic crimes in the period, including 4,797 smugglers and traffickers, and 4,007 corrupt officials.

One minister, five deputy ministers and 14 chairmen or vice chairmen of People's Committees at the provincial or municipal level have been brought to justice on charges of corruption, according to the ministry's report.

Source: Xinhua