Sharing with the press at the beginning of the new year, Mr. Nguyen Quang Thai, Director General of the General Department of Civil Judgment Enforcement (Ministry of Justice) affirmed that in 2023, the number of cases, amounts of money and asset recovery in corruption and economic cases will be the highest ever.

"That is the reward for the tireless efforts, overcoming many difficulties, challenges and pressures of the Enforcement Officers, civil servants and workers in the entire civil enforcement system," said Mr. Thai.

Director General of the Enforcement Agency talks about the pressure to recover corrupt assets - 1

Director General of the General Department of Civil Judgment Enforcement Nguyen Quang Thai (Photo: Kim Quy).

However, according to him, there are still many difficulties and challenges ahead: Assets in criminal cases of corruption and economic crimes are often very large in quantity, of many types, and scattered in many localities, even abroad. Meanwhile, the current resources and civil servants of civil enforcement agencies are still lacking compared to the workload of economic and corruption cases.

"Just counting the cases under the supervision and direction of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption and Anti-Negative Practices that civil enforcement agencies are organizing to enforce, there are more than 3,000 assets that need to be handled, of which more than 1,000 assets are land use rights," the Director General of the Civil Enforcement Agency cited.

The results of execution of judgments in 2023 reached the highest level ever, with more than 575,000 cases, collecting over 89,000 billion VND, of which over 20,000 billion VND was from recovering assets misappropriated and lost in corruption and economic cases - an increase of nearly 4,500 billion compared to 2022.

In 2024, the workload of enforcement will increase dramatically when a series of major cases continue to be brought to trial and enforced: In the Van Thinh Phat case, the investigation agency seized a large amount of real estate, estimated to be worth thousands of billions and millions of shares, stocks and other seized assets; the Tan Hoang Minh case, the Dong Nai General Hospital case, the FLC Group case, etc. have all seized a lot of assets and land use rights of related individuals.

Director General of the Enforcement Agency talks about the pressure to recover corrupt assets - 2

The prosecution agency accused 15 defendants in the Tan Hoang Minh case of embezzling VND8,643 billion and this amount has now been handed over to be returned to the victims. In the photo, Tan Hoang Minh Chairman Do Anh Dung (Photo: Tan Hoang Minh).

Speaking further about the difficulties, Mr. Thai said that the legal status of assets seized to ensure enforcement of judgments is often complicated, and many cases have not been determined. Therefore, at the enforcement stage, many legal issues have arisen that need to be resolved.

Director General Nguyen Quang Thai affirmed that the entire enforcement system will continue to strictly implement Directive No. 04-CT/TW of the Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership in the recovery of assets misappropriated or lost in criminal cases of corruption and economic crimes. At the same time, review, supplement, and mobilize resources such as competent and qualified enforcement officers and examiners to key areas to enforce judgments.

The General Department will focus on strengthening inspection, coordinating inspection and supervision, ensuring the execution of judgments, and minimizing violations.

"If there are any violations or shortcomings, they must be detected early and corrected right from the start, and not cause hot spots or complicated incidents," Mr. Thai clearly stated his point of view.

"What a pity"

According to General Director Nguyen Quang Thai, there are still a number of civil servants who, due to limitations in professional expertise, and in some cases, have degenerated and corrupted, have violated legal regulations, leading to administrative liability being considered, or even criminal prosecution.

"This is regrettable. The Ministry of Justice, the judiciary, and the civil judgment enforcement system have been implementing many solutions to prevent negativity, corruption, and violations and are very determined in handling violations. The Politburo's issuance of Regulation No. 132-QD/TW is an important political and legal basis for preventing, deterring, and handling violations in litigation activities in general and in civil judgment enforcement in particular," said Mr. Thai.

He emphasized that Regulation No. 132-QD/TW has created a mechanism to monitor and prevent negativity, violations, and corruption of Party committees, Party organizations, socio-political organizations, and people towards civil enforcement agencies; the basis for handling acts of taking advantage of, abusing positions and powers, abusing power, corruption, and negativity in litigation and enforcement activities, ensuring that the handling of cadres has no forbidden areas and no exceptions.

According to Dan Tri