There will be no places of refuge for the dishonest in the national fight against corruption, local newspaper Vietnam News Tuesday quoted a member of the Political Bureau under the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee ( CPVCC) as saying.

The bureau's member Truong Tan Sang, who is also permanent member of the CPVCC's Secretariat, said that in the state's fight against corruption, all will be treated as equals, no matter whether or not they have high positions in the party or the government.

He said that if this approach was not taken, people would lose trust in officials and corruption would flourish.

In addition to strictly punishing offenders, particular attention should be paid to eliminating incentives for corruption and solving the issue of corruption in property sales, he said, adding that the party must always lead the anti-corruption fight.

All local agencies, sectors and localities must perfect their mechanism and policies on socio-economic management, particularly in the areas vulnerable to corruption, to ensure accountability and grass-roots democracy.

On Oct. 4, Vietnam inaugurated a central anti-corruption steering committee led by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. 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.

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.

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