Fifty provincial authorities in southern Saravan province under investigation by inspection authorities have been found to have been receiving bribes over the past five years.
The Provincial Committee of the State and Party Inspection, Mr Khamchan Chemsamone reported at the third meeting on work inspection in the prefecture last week that many billions of kip were lost as a result of the corruption.
These 50 wrongdoers were found guilty of embezzlement after nine targets were checked.
The inspection authorities estimate that the state has lost more than five billion kip due to the payment of bribes to these corrupt officials.
Provincial authorities were able to recoup a total of only 67 million kip from the 50 corrupt officials.
Based on the report tabled at the meeting, the provincial inspection authorities found there had been 50 wrongdoers involved in the illegal felling, purchase and sale of timber, with about 9,000 cubic metres of timber thought to have been illegally removed. Stemming from that, six wrongdoers were punished, 21 were educated, five had their positions dissolved or were reposted to lower ranking positions, while 18 members of the security forces and civil service were expelled.
Provincial authorities were keen to demonstrate that they had taken care of their inspection and anti-corruption obligations regarding this matter.
According to the report presented at the 3rd Congress of the Inspection Committee of the Party Central Committee held in Vientiane recently, more than 4,807 billion kip has been lost to corruption over the past five years and 734 targets were found involved, a top anti-corruption body reported.
Vice Chairman of the Inspection Committee, Sinai Mienglavanh told the congress that more than 887 billion kip of the money lost to corruption has been recovered.
More than 303.1 million cubic metres of timber were found logged and sold illegally over the past five years, Mr Sinai told the participants as he delivered the report.
Over the same period, some 1,806 cadres of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party have been disciplined as they violated the Party’s statutes and state laws in various cases. Of those, a total of 1,007 cadres were expelled from Party membership.
In addition, the committee has received 3,640 petitions including 2,719 petitions that have been resolved. Most of the petitions were related to land disputes, business disputes, and dissatisfaction over court verdicts.
Source: Vientiane Times
