Vietnam Bares All

A recent corruption survey out of Vietnam makes a fascinating study. Although I haven’t yet found the source document, reports paint an interesting picture of the nature of corruption.
The survey was taken in the Construction, Transport and Industry Ministries, in the cities of Ha Noi and HCM City and the provinces of Son La, Hai Duong, Nghe An, Thua Thien-Hue and Dong Thap.
This was a cooperative project with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).

So, the nuts and bolts:

• Between 80-90 per cent of senior managers, public servants, business people and ordinary citizens think embezzlement, bribery and the abuse of power to misappropriate State property corrupt

• Despite that he survey found that 30 per cent of public servants would accept a bribe if offered.

• 11% of officials polled said that accepting a bribe depended on the case, some 6.5% of officials would readily take them, and over 14.5% are non-committal.


• Up to 70% of officials take money and gifts from acquaintances at different levels.


• Making phone calls or sending handwritten letters to intervene on behalf of their acquaintances is the most popular method for officials. This is because telephone calls and handwritten letters are not legal documents.

• 57% of people polled said that they have had to pay traffic police bribes when they are pulled over.

• Nearly half of officials polled agreed with the viewpoint that anyone not participating in group bribery would be excluded from important departmental dealings, legitimate or otherwise.


• According to the survey, of 10 areas rife with corruption in Vietnam, the three considered top are land management, customs and traffic police.

• The top 10 list includes: financial and taxation bodies, management bodies and organisations in construction, bodies granting construction licences, the health sector, planning and investment bodies, management bodies and organisations in the transport sector as well as economic police.


• In Hanoi, 8.6% of officials selected the media as the least corrupt and 66.5% chose land management as more corrupt.

Comparison, of course, would be ludicrous. It is difficult to perceive such candid responses coming from any Western developed economy. Yet, at least in some areas, these figures strike a note. Oh, the temptation…