[Vnbiz] Vice Minister Nguyen Viet Tien is released from

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear Brother Giang,

That is a very good question.  Transparency is a concept that is applied
differently in different kinds of cases.  Basically transparency means
see-through, but how much we can see through depending on many factors.  For
example, information that may effect national security in any case may be
available to the public at all.
Transparency also depending on who the "seer" is.  Something may not be
available to the public (say, information relating to a person's privacy)
may be available to some government official.  So the information is not
transparent to the public, but transparent to some government officials.

So, to understand and apply transparency correctly,we have to think about
specific circumstances with specific persons involved.  Also, transparency
is only one of the factors that create "trustworthiness."  Transparency is
not the goal, it is a mean to build trustworthiness. The more you can see,
the more you can trust the government.  So trustworthiness is the ultimate
goal.

If we keep all these things in mind, we can think much better about
transparency in real life cases.  Now, using this case of Vice Minister Tien
as an example.  How do we make his case transparent?

1.  Generally in the US there is a law called Freedom of Information Act.
Under this act, a citizen may request information from the government.  The
press generally uses this Act to request information from government
agencies.

2. But there are many exceptions to the right to have information from the
government.  Some of the well-known exceptions are:  privacy,
attorney-client privilege, national security, etc.  So many kinds
of information may not be available to the public (or the press) at all.

3.  In addition, this is a legal investigation.  Most investigative
information the police obtains in an investigation is confidential, and may
remained confidential unless the information is used in a public trial..
Say, the police investigates Mr. A.  Information gained during this
investigation is protected from disclosure, meaning, the public cannot
request the information. The reason is clear:  If the police has to release
investigative information, all their investigations will become ineffective.

4.  And when VKSND decides not to prosecute, the internal documents and
information of VKSND about why VKSND decides not to prosecute the case may
enjoy the "executive deliberation privilege."  Meaning, documents and
information showing the way the ":executives" think may be kept confidential
and are not required to be disclosed.  The reason is that if these
documents may be disclosed, executives may not feel free to communicate
their thinking on the job.  We want them to be able to think and communicate
freely among themselves.
So we can see that the citizen's right to know is limited by many legitimate
reasons.  It means, in many cases, the citizens may know something but not
every thing.

However, there are other things in the system to help increase
trustworthiness:  Say, National Assembly members may request information
from other agencies.  But even in these cases, some exceptions may still
apply, such as, executive deliberation privilege or national security.  This
is called check and balance, the llegislative branch has some right to
"check" the executive branch a little.

Or vertical supervision:  We assume that the police's work is reviewed by
VKSND, to insure accuracy and legality.  Or the Prime Minister is
supervising his ministers.

And of course the press with its investigative skills to search out the
truth is another major factor in managing the country.

But you can see that there is no absolute transparency and absolute
trustworthiness.  We can set up the system to increase trustworthiness as
much as we can.  But there is no absolute way.  We just have to learn to
trust each other, and make others trust us.   And that is the key of any
government:  How to make the public trust the government?

How do you make people trust you?  Think about that question for yourself.

My personal answer is:  I try to be honest all the time and try to be open
myself as much as I can all the time.  That is honesty plus  transparency.
And I keep doing these 2 things year in and year out, until people come to
trust me.  (But if someone decides not to trust me, I cannot do much
about it! ).    Same thing with any government.  Trust has to be
earned.  Every government must work to earn the pubic trust.  Trust doesn't
fall down from the tree.

Oh, in high profile cases, the profile of the case itself may guarantee some
quality:  Say, if Mr Tien is truly guilty, then high ranking officials in
the police and VKSND would know.  And if VKSND truly abuses its power by
simply allowing a very guilty guy go free, then eventually VKSND and the
entire government may split into 2 wings, because upset people who know the
inside story may band together into an opposing force.  Government generally
doesn't  want to weaken itself that way.  But of course, you never know how
dumb people a are at times.

Hope this helps.

Great day, brother Giang and all.

Hoanh

 _________

2008/4/11 Vu Truong Giang <giangvt at gmail.com>:

> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
> Dear anh Hoanh, anh Shane and others (CACC),
>
> I'm agree with anh Hoanh that the case is normal in legal view. One man is
> suspected and then he is released because of no evidence. The only one
> different thing here is: this man has an high profile. (anh Hoanh's word).
>
> So, a question that I want to raise here is: how to take an investigation
> with high profile case? How to create a team of prosecutor who have enough
> independence and public respect?
>
> Tiếng Anh của em hơi dở nên viết tiếp bằng tiếng Việt vậy: câu hỏi của em
> là cách nào để đưa việc điều tra các nhân vật có high profile như trên (và
> các nhân vật có thể còn high nữa) trở nên độc lập và minh bạch? Có những
> case và experience nào ở các nước khác mà chúng ta có thể chia sẻ không? Bởi
> sự minh bạch đem lại uy tín cho chính phủ, nên em nghĩ câu hỏi này là quan
> trọng.
>
> Giang.
>
>
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> Washington DC
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