A new Penal Code has come into force in Viet Nam

Law No. 12/2017/QH14 of June 20, 2017 further amended the updated Criminal Code and set a new effective date of January 1, 2018.

The Code criminalized, among other things, a number of corruption offences. In particular, previously only persons holding positions in the public sector were subject to criminal liability for corruption offences. Under the new amendments, a prohibition is established for "persons holding a position/authority" in both the public and private sectors to:

agreeing to accept or receiving a bribe (directly or through intermediaries), be it money, property or other benefits with a value equal to or exceeding 2 million Vietnamese dong (about 5,000 rubles), or intangibles, in exchange for using one's position or abuse of authority to take certain actions (inaction) - Article 354;
offering or giving a bribe (directly or through intermediaries), whether money, property or other benefits, the value of which equals or exceeds 2 million Vietnamese dong, or intangible values, in exchange for taking certain actions (inaction) - Art. 364;
mediation in bribery - Art. 365.

Thus, the new CC extends the prohibition of bribery to the commercial sector. At the same time, the adopted norms leave some terminological uncertainty. In particular, it is not entirely clear who is meant by "persons having a position/authority" in the private sector. It seems that this wording implies that the said person has a certain seniority or influence sufficient to take actions or make decisions.

The penalties for the above-mentioned offenses may vary depending on the severity of the crime. Corrupt officials may face suspension from office, a fine, the maximum amount of which is 50 million Vietnamese dong (about 126,000 rubles), imprisonment, up to life imprisonment. In addition, taking a bribe (Art. 354) remains one of the 18 offenses for which the death penalty may be prescribed, while criminals convicted of corruption offenses but who voluntarily return at least 75% of the illegally appropriated funds may be sentenced to death.

At the same time, the statute of limitations for the execution of court decisions does not apply to the crimes provided for in paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 354 (receiving a bribe of 500 million to 1 billion Vietnamese dong (1.3 million to 2.5 million rubles) or more than 1 billion Vietnamese dong, respectively, or the receipt of which caused material damage of 3 billion to 5 billion Vietnamese dong (7.5 million to 12.5 million rubles) or more than 5 billion Vietnamese dong, respectively).

Despite the expectations of the public, these norms apply only to natural persons; the Code does not provide for liability for these types of crimes for legal entities.

At the same time, the updated Criminal Code has established corporate liability for crimes related to tax evasion (Article 200), financing of terrorism (Article 300), as well as money laundering (Article 324). Liability is provided only for commercial organizations and is incurred under the following conditions:

the crime was committed on behalf of the organization;
the crime was committed in the interests of the organization
the crime was committed at the direction or approval of the organization;
the crime was committed within the statute of limitations for prosecution.

Another important innovation is the criminalization of bribery of foreign officials. Article 364 of the Criminal Code introduces criminal liability for individuals for bribing a foreign official or an official of an international organization, establishing liability measures similar to the general norms of this article. At the same time, experts express hope that these norms will actually be applied in practice, and not remain only on paper, as it happens in other Asian countries.

Despite the rather harsh methods of fighting corruption in Vietnam, including punishment in the form of the death penalty, their effectiveness is still very low. Thus, in the corruption perception rating of 2016, Vietnam ranked 113th, and according to the regional study "Corruption Barometer" in Vietnam, 65% of respondents, applying for public services, gave bribes. At the same time, bribery is not the only form of corruption in the country: such phenomena as nepotism and favoritism - appointments to the police, judiciary and state bodies - are widespread in Vietnam.