A report on the results of Hanoi People's Committee’s anti-corruption work for the first half of 2016 has said that one of the big challenges is low salaries paid to civil servants.

According to the report, the city's inspection team recovered VND50.6 billion (USD2.25 million) and over 13 hectares of land, and issued fines worth VND 41 billion (USD1.85 million) to 42 individuals and 22 organisations.

"39 individuals have been prosecuted in 16 serious corruption cases in the first six months of this year," the report noted.

The committee said that the city still faced many challenges, especially in land use and management, construction investment, finance, and public security.

The committee also pointed out some shortcomings in their work including, the quality of the staff, lack of communication activities, lax management, low rates of detection and low recovery rate of assets.

However, they also stressed that low payment to civil servants is also a chief cause of making the committee’s work more difficult.

"The fight against corruption is a complicated and challenging work," the report explained. "Moreover, the pay and reward policy for civil servants is still low and violators are becoming more and more daring and skilled”.