Vietnam will soon set up an anti- corruption department under its Ministry of Public Security, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Friday.

Under a decision approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Thursday, the department will be responsible for investigating corruption cases nationwide, but not in the People's Armed Forces.

To ensure the strict enforcement of the Anti-Corruption Law coming into effect early this year, it is necessary to form a special corruption investigation unit, said the ministry.

According to government statistics released in June 2005, Vietnam detected 176,534 economic crime cases between 1993 and 2004, including 9,960 cases of corruption.

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

Source: Xinhua