On the afternoon of November 29, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law on Management and Investment of State Capital in Enterprises.
Delegate Bui Thi Quynh Tho (Ha Tinh Delegation) said that the draft law applies to entities with more than 50% state capital, and does not regulate enterprises with less than 50% state capital.
The delegate gave an example of a joint stock company in which the state capital accounts for 49%, the remaining amount is divided among 5 other major shareholders, each owning less than 10% of the shares. Thus, the state capital will dominate, if there is no regulation, it will be unclear who will be responsible for management, implementation, and monitoring?
The female delegate wondered how the state capital in these enterprises would be managed and used, how the profits from capital investment would be handled, or how violations would be punished?
Therefore, the delegate proposed that it is necessary to expand the scope of management for enterprises with less than 50% state capital and stipulate the principle of state cash flow management that the state monitors and manages wherever state cash flows, and only manages based on the equity ownership ratio.
According to the delegate, only then can the principles of financial management be ensured.
Another issue that delegates are concerned about is that the draft law lists 15 tasks, powers, and responsibilities of enterprises in management and operation, compliance with legal regulations, and a number of tasks regarding enforcement.
However, delegates said it is necessary to add regulations on enterprises being responsible for output from using state capital for business.
Accordingly, except for enterprises that carry out public interest goals of the state, investment and business enterprises must be responsible for the effective use of state capital, ensuring economic benefits (excluding risks due to objective causes such as natural disasters, war, or economic, political and social shocks).
"If there were no regulations on this responsibility, businesses only needed to maintain enough capital to meet the requirements," said the delegate.
Regarding profit distribution, according to the delegate, the draft law stipulates distribution for enterprises with 100% and 50-100% state capital. However, compared to Law 69/2014, it does not stipulate whether it is profit before tax or after corporate income tax.
The delegate suggested that it is necessary to clearly stipulate that the distributed profit here must be the profit after corporate income tax. At the same time, it is necessary to add regulations related to enterprises with less than 50% state capital investment, how the profit is distributed.
Delegate Doan Thi Le An (Cao Bang Delegation) is concerned about the issue of capital owner representative agencies (Article 40).
The delegate cited Resolution No. 12-NQ/TW which gives the guiding viewpoint: "Separate and clearly define the function of State ownership of assets and capital from the function of State management of all types of enterprises and the function of business administration of State-owned enterprises".
However, this article stipulates that the capital owner representative agency includes: Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities.
Therefore, the delegates requested the drafting agency to explain and clarify the basis and practical requirements of the regulation that a number of ministries, branches and localities continue to perform the function of representing capital owners for the National Assembly to consider and decide.
The delegate also suggested that the drafting committee review relevant laws referring to regulations on capital management and use in current laws, for example the Investment Law... to avoid legal gaps in the law enforcement process.
