The NA on November 18 discussed the draft law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Anti-Corruption.

Deputy Nguyen Tam Hung (HCMC), who suggested the system, explained that the scoring is conducted based on many factors, including asset fluctuations, declaration history, scope of authority, and exposure to sensitive sectors such as land, public investment, bidding, and finance-budget management.

“Those with high risk scores must be placed on a priority monitoring list. This is a strategic approach, shifting from passive detection to proactive oversight,” Hung said.

Regarding the development of a national integrity index, the delegate noted that the draft law only mentions “assessment criteria,” without requiring a unified, measurable integrity index that accurately reflects the situation in each locality, ministry, and sector.

Hung proposed adding a provision that authorizes the Government to issue a national integrity index comprising scoring scales, indexes, and evaluation standards for prevention, detection, handling, and asset recovery.

He emphasized that such an index is not just for reporting purposes but also a tool for evaluating officials and agencies, and fostering integrity-based competition among localities.

On building “digital infrastructure against corruption,” Hung argued that the current amendments just request stronger technology application.

He recommended requiring anti-corruption databases to be mandatorily connected to national databases on population, land, business registration, taxation, customs, banking, and notarization.

“This is strategic because 98 percent of corruption acts leave traces through asset fluctuations and financial transactions. Only when data is integrated can oversight bodies detect unusual transactions, circular asset transfers, or assets held under another person’s name. Without mandatory integration, the system will remain fragmented and ineffective,” Hung explained.

Regarding the mechanism for risk analysis and corruption-risk scoring, the draft law currently only regulates monitoring asset fluctuations. Hung therefore suggested expanding it to a full risk-scoring system.

Assets and income from VND1 billion

Regarding the regulation that assets and income valued at VND1 billion or more must be declared, the delegate assessed this regulation as appropriate for the economic context. However, Hung warned that individuals may split transactions into smaller parts, making it difficult to discover corrupting activities.

Therefore, he proposed legalizing the principle that "all abnormal asset fluctuations, inconsistent with income, even if under VND1 billion, must be justified."

Pham Van Hoa from Dong Thap also supported the idea of requiring supplementary declaration if asset value and income abnormally increases.

However, he noted that as socio-economic conditions improve and officials’ incomes rise, the incomes of civil servants and public employees have increased, so the thresholds of income subject to declaration must be amended.

“We can’t revise the law every time that happens,” he said, suggesting adding a provision allowing the Government to stipulate the value of assets and additional income requiring supplementary declaration.

Explaining the tentative provisions, Government Inspector General Doan Hong Phong stressed that the draft law raises the declaration threshold from VND50 million to VND150 million and increases the annual fluctuation threshold requiring supplementary declaration from VND300 million to VND1 billion.

“I must clarify that this refers to fluctuations within the year, not accumulated balances carried over from previous years,” Phong said.

The adjustment is based on two key factors: first, salaries have been raised three times since 2018; and second, socio-economic conditions have grown nearly threefold, with significantly higher market prices compared to 2018.

The requirement on declaration for assets and income of VND150 million or higher is applied to three declaration methods: initial declaration, annual declaration and declaration serving personnel management. 

The threshold of VND1 billion in asset and income changes per year applies only to supplementary declarations, ongoing monitoring of changes and as the basis for verification when explanations are deemed unreasonable. 

Therefore, the provisions in the draft law are consistent and aligned with the goal of controlling large-scale asset and income fluctuations.

Regarding “digital assets”, the Government Inspectorate said current legislation does not yet provide sufficient regulations, so this category has not been included in the draft law and will be further studied when a solid legal basis becomes available.

Tran Thuong