3 months for appraisal in a big case like Van Thinh Phat is impossible.

(Dan Tri) - For cases under the supervision of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, Wastefulness, and Negativity, such as the Van Thinh Phat case, National Assembly delegates proposed that the appraisal period be decided by the Steering Committee.

On the morning of October 1, the conference of specialized National Assembly deputies gave opinions on the draft Law on Judicial Expertise (amended).

Regarding the rights and obligations of forensic experts, National Assembly delegate Le Thi Song An ( Tay Ninh ) proposed to remove the provision that "forensic experts are exempt from legal responsibility for the professional content of the forensic conclusion, except in cases of intentional distortion of the forensic conclusion", and at the same time supplement the mechanism of professional responsibility of forensic experts.

National Assembly Delegate Le Thi Song An (Photo: Hong Phong).

The female delegate stated that forensic experts must bear civil responsibility according to regulations if they commit errors due to negligence, carelessness or serious lack of professional capacity during the appraisal process, causing damage to individuals or organizations. They must also bear legal responsibility if they intentionally falsify appraisal conclusions.

According to Ms. An, forensic experts are only exempted from liability if they can prove that they performed the work objectively, impartially, and followed the correct procedures.

The provision of legal immunity as in the draft law, Ms. An said, is going against the progressive legal trend of the world in narrowing and eventually eliminating the immunity of experts, to increase accountability.

Furthermore, this poses a huge legal risk, especially in serious cases and lawsuits, creating a safe zone for individuals with weak expertise and a lack of seriousness in appointing, training, and evaluating the capacity of the team of appraisers.

"Weak expertise can easily be exploited and influenced to commit violations," the female delegate from Tay Ninh province noted.

According to her, the Government's explanation of exempting legal liability to encourage and create peace of mind is only a superficial solution, and if applied long-term, it can easily be abused.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Cong Long (Photo: Hong Phong).

In addition, the female delegate suggested considering adding appraisal subjects to cases under the supervision and direction of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, Wastefulness, and Negativity, with the appraisal period decided by the Steering Committee.

As evidence, Ms. An said that recently there have been a number of cases that are quite complex in nature, large in scale, and involve many organizations and individuals, such as the Van Thinh Phat case.

“The amount of appraisal work in the Van Thinh Phat case is extremely large, including analyzing thousands of fake loan applications, determining cash flow through an ecosystem of thousands of businesses, and valuing a large amount of collateral to determine damages of up to hundreds of thousands of billions of VND. With this amount of work, the maximum appraisal period of 3 months according to the draft law is impossible,” Ms. Song An cited.

The draft law also allows reporting of failure to ensure the appraisal deadline, to extend the deadline beyond the statutory time limit. However, Ms. An believes that this provision can still create pressure, affecting the activities of appraisers.

Meanwhile, delegate Nguyen Cong Long (Dong Nai) shared that there are many problems in the appraisal process related to economic cases.

He is concerned that the current law and the draft amended law still maintain the regulation that ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and specialized departments under the People's Committees of provinces and cities will conduct judicial appraisal.

Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh explains opinions of National Assembly deputies (Photo: Hong Phong).

"Does this method of requesting an appraisal ensure objective truth?", Mr. Long questioned the case of investigating behavior related to investment projects of the Provincial People's Committee, but the person requested for appraisal is the specialized department managing this field in this province.

Explaining later, Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh said that the drafting agency had reviewed many problematic contents in the current law. According to Mr. Ninh, the practical problems are not only due to legal regulations but also due to the organization of law enforcement.

Accepting the opinions of delegates, the Minister of Justice affirmed that he will continue to review to have stricter regulations, to resolve problems related to legal regulations, for example, regulations on the time limit for judicial appraisal will be more flexible.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/3-thang-de-giam-dinh-trong-vu-an-lon-nhu-van-thinh-phat-la-bat-kha-thi-20251001115620823.htm