Vietnam is taking preventive and punitive measures to fight against corruption, including corruption among party members, the top leader of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) said here Tuesday.

"Corrupt people should be strictly punished according to the law. However, we should focus on prevention," newly re-elected General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee Nong Duc Manh said at a press conference after the 10th National Party Congress wrapped up on Tuesday.

Mechanisms and regulations on anti-corruption should be strong enough to ensure there are no holes in management which create favorable conditions for the emergence of corruption, he said, noting that anti-corruption activities must be done at every single organization and individual.

Now, inspection boards of party committees at different level are empowered to supervise, not just inspect, relevant work and party members as before. They supervise the work and the people not only for detecting wrongdoers, but also for good factors and examples, Manh said.

Main reasons for the emergence of corruption among party members include the degeneration in morals and lifestyle of some individualists, and loose personnel education and management, he stated.

On April 18, the first working day of the party congress, Manh said, "Intensifying prevention and fight against corruption and wastefulness is the society's pressing requirement and the party's political determination."

He also mentioned some specific measures, including perfecting regulations on economic and financial management and inspection, keeping on accelerating administrative reform, ensuring the publicity and transparency of economic and financial activities in organizations and agencies, continuing to renovate policies on salary of state cadres and employees, and well implementing laws on fighting against corruption and wastefulness.

The congress, running on April 18-25, with the participation of 1,176 delegates on behalf of 3.1 million party members, elected the party's leadership in the new tenure, defined orientations for the country's socioeconomic development in the 2006-2010 period, and adopted the party's amended statute.

Source: Xinhua