Vietnam's state and party officials, including the state president and cabinet members will have to open bank accounts so that their incomes can be monitored, under a draft law slated for discussion late this year, local newspaper Youth reported Monday.

Under a draft law on monitoring incomes of people having position and power worked out by Vietnam's Interior Ministry and expected to be discussed by the country's lawmakers in late 2007, the officials, including the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, the state president, the prime minister, members of the Political Bureau under the committee, deputy prime ministers, the chairman of the National Assembly (the top legislature), vice chairpersons of the assembly, and heads of ministries, sectors, provincial party committees, provincial People's Committees and large state-owned enterprises, should open and maintain bank accounts.

They are supposed to disclose their incomes in detail like salary, allowance, bonus, royalties, and lottery winning. Those who fail to open or maintain accounts will be disciplined, and those who falsify incomes or fail to prove the origin of incomes will have the unclear assets confiscated. Local investigators will probe into files about violators to find out potential corruption cases.

In case of the unavailability of bank account services, the officials will have to report their detailed incomes on a quarterly basis to the organizations they are working for, according to the draft law.

Source: Xinhua