Vietnam inaugurated a central anti- corruption steering committee led by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Wednesday, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The 10-member committee has the rights to suspend deputy ministers, chairpersons of provincial People's Committees or Councils, and equivalent posts if they have signs of law violation, said the report.

The committee, in charge of guiding and inspecting anti- corruption activities nationwide, also has the rights to sack those who have signs of involving in corruption or causing difficulties for anti-corruption activities.

The committee, in the remaining months of this year, will direct the implementation of a resolution on strengthening the party's leadership in combating corruption by the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and the Anti-Corruption Law, and guide the establishment of anti-corruption agencies at different levels, Dung said at the committee's first session on Wednesday.

The committee will also inspect law-making agencies which build corruption-related legal documents, and ask relevant agencies to quickly deal with pressing corruption cases and better implement administrative reform.

The prime minister asked leaders of ministries, sectors and localities to review negative cases and publicize more administrative procedures, aiming to minimize corruption in state agencies' activities.

According to government statistics released in June 2005, there were 176,534 economic crimes between 1993 and 2004, including 9, 960 cases of corruption.

The amount of money found in each corruption case during the 1990s averaged 710 million Vietnamese dong (VND) (nearly 44,700 U. S. dollars), but increased to 810 million VND (50,900 dollars) in the 2000-2004 period.

Source: Xinhua