A couple of entries ago, I mentioned the ongoing debate surrounding the Anti-Corruption Bill now being discussed in the National Assembly (see earlier post). As writers in the Vietnamese press have predicted, things are not going well. Not well at all.

The much-awaited anti-corruption bill is a hot topic for discussion at the year-end National Assembly sitting which was slated to end on Nov. 30. One of the main weapons the bill has trumpeted is a “central steering committee to battle corruption,” the ultimate leading body for the fight against the chronic problem in Vietnam.

(Deputy Luu Thi) Giang also called for the bill to underline leaders’ responsibility for letting serious corruption cases occur within agencies they oversee. In the large graft cases unveiled recently, only a minister had to shoulder responsibility for wrongdoings in a company under his ministry.

Agriculture minister Le Huy Ngo was dismissed last year for “dereliction of duty” in the embezzlement case that caused losses of over VND100 billion to the state budget. Meanwhile, no leaders of the Trade Ministry and the oil and gas sector had been punished in the major graft cases within their ministries, Giang said. “Are we being too gentle with leading officials?” she said.

But here's the kick in the pants, whose english translation is from Intellasia (Vietnam):

Anti-corruption chief arrested for graft
22/Oct/2005 AFP

Vietnam's anti-corruption chief has been arrested over allegations he took bribes and abused his position, in an embarrassing setback for the country's fight against rampant graft. Luong Cao Khai, head of Vietnam's anti-corruption inspection taskforce and deputy director of the government's inspection department, was arrested at his home here on Thursday October 20, an investigative police source told AFP.

Police later uncovered several cases of serious wrongdoing."He is accused of receiving money and land from some oil and gas officials to use for private purposes and abusing his position to provide his relatives with jobs in oil and gas sector," the Tuoi Tre daily reported.

Yet, all considered, what I did not mention in another entry about the recently published Corruption Perception Index, Vietnam is among the worst world offenders:
Corruption Perceptions Index 2004 score: 2.6 (102nd out of 146 countries)

The information graphic is a governance world map for Control of Corruption based on the 2004 Governance Indicators dataset from the World Bank.

Sources
Thanh Nien Newspaper. Anti-corruption bill still has loopholes
Tuoi Tre Newspaper. Chống tham nhũng: phải quyết liệt và đồng bộ