(PLO)- In the absence of a power control mechanism, it is easy to have terrible consequences, then bribes can “puncture” the links of corrupt officials in public agencies.
In recent days, the public has paid special attention to the trial of the great rescue flight. Perhaps there is no need to discuss more about the nature and danger of the acts of giving and receiving bribes and brokering bribes by the defendants in the case. However, from the perspective of state governance and anti-corruption, many things can be drawn from this case.
Firstly, although this case is often called by the press and media by the name of the rescue flight, in fact the law enforcement agencies are dealing with corrupt acts arising from the combo flight policy.
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The trial of the rescue flight case. Photo: CTV |
There should be a clear distinction between a rescue flight and a combo flight. The rescue flight is a humanitarian policy of the State, to give priority to rescuing Vietnamese citizens abroad and sending them home for free isolation at facilities managed by the military; People only have to pay for the plane ticket.
Unlike the rescue flight, the combo flight partly has a market element, the cost people have to pay is based on the agreement with the business, and the right to license and approve belongs to the State. This mechanism, in the absence of necessary control, easily becomes a fertile field for corruption to arise.
However, due to the great demand for water by the people, the capacity of the State at the time of being strained against the epidemic is difficult to meet, so from the end of 2020, the Government has allowed to pilot combo flights. Accordingly, people voluntarily pay all airfare and isolation costs. Enterprises proactively contact the authorities (Five Ministries Working Group, Government Office) to apply for permits, contact localities themselves to arrange civil isolation facilities. In total, Vietnam organized 400 rescue flights and 372 combo flights; The situation of corruption and bribery happened during the stage of organizing this combo flight.
Second, flight combos are essentially a public-private partnership. In order to fulfill the goal of serving the public interest of rescuing citizens, the State allows the private sector to participate in organizing combo flights. Unlike the rescue flight, the combo flight partly has a market element, the cost people have to pay is based on the agreement with the business, and the right to license and approve belongs to the State. This mechanism, in the absence of necessary control, easily becomes a fertile field for corruption to arise.
Third, according to statistics, the level of corruption and bribery skyrocketed when the authority to approve the combo flight was transferred from the Government Office to the Five-Ministry Working Group. From just holding the role of advisory and consensus, the Five-Ministry Working Group became the focal point for deciding and approving combo flights. As a result, businesses that want to be approved for a combo flight will have to “spread” the bribe money through all the clues of the ministries.
This is an expensive lesson for the anti-corruption work in Vietnam: Strengthening the assignment and decentralization of powers from superiors to subordinates without the necessary mechanism to control power and prevent corruption will result in the loss of power. can easily cause terrible consequences, when bribes can “puncture” the links of corrupt officials in public agencies.
Therefore, we need to pay more attention to the research and improvement of the theory on anti-corruption. Along with anti-corruption, the State should emphasize the work of perfecting institutions and improving the efficiency of state governance to prevent corruption from “infancy”.
LUONG LE MINH (Graduate student majoring in state administration and anti-corruption, University of Law, Vietnam National University, Hanoi)