Officer receives disciplinary action for 'having money stuffed into his briefcase without knowing'

Four officials of the Ha Tinh Department of Transport were disciplined for having money stuffed into their briefcases without their knowledge while performing their duties; inviting related people to a hotel room to "work".

On the afternoon of August 29, Mr. Le Quoc Anh, Chief of Office of the Ha Tinh Department of Transport, said that the unit had just issued a decision to discipline 4 officials of the Department.

Those disciplined include: Mr. Doan Manh Tuong (Deputy Chief of Office), Bui Anh Tuan (Inspector), Pham Son Hai (Inspector), Dinh Sy Hanh (Inspector). The reason is that these men violated professional discipline, participated in making records of administrative violations in violation of regulations, and were negatively reported during the performance of their duties.

According to the disciplinary record, in mid-June 2016, the interdisciplinary team inspected the loading and unloading of goods at material mines in the province, led by Mr. Dinh Sy Hanh, along with Mr. Pham Son Hai and a number of other department officials, to collect data on loading and unloading goods onto cars at material mines in Huong Son district.

This material mine is managed by Dai Long Joint Stock Company (located in Duc Linh commune, Vu Quang district).

Ha Tinh Department of Transport, where the disciplined officials are working. Photo: Duc Hung

The interdisciplinary team then drew up an administrative violation report and imposed a fine of 19.5 million VND. The leaders of Dai Long Company discussed and gave Inspector Hai 30 million VND. On July 28, the inspector went to the company headquarters to return the money.

Mr. Hai later explained that the company director "put the money in the briefcase without knowing", if he had known, the team would never have dared to accept it. Mr. Hanh also stated that during the working process, there was no policy to reduce the company's violations for personal gain.

According to Mr. Quoc Anh, at the dialogue between the Department and Dai Long Company on August 19, the company's director, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Linh, also denounced negative signs of some department officials in 2015. Accordingly, in August 2015, the interdisciplinary team led by Mr. Doan Manh Tuong (at that time, Deputy Inspector General) together with inspector Bui Anh Tuan and some officials from other departments inspected the quarry of Dai Long Company.

Discovering some violations related to overloading, a few days later, the team invited Mr. Linh to a hotel in Pho Chau town (Huong Son district) to announce the results and draw up a record of administrative violations. According to Mr. Linh, at the end of the meeting, he left 50 million VND in the room. However, inspectors Tuong and Tuan argued that they did not know and did not see the above amount of money. The Ha Tinh Department of Transport later concluded that inviting the business to work at the hotel was wrong, and the report that 50 million was left was untrue.

The envelope containing 30 million VND that Inspector Hai returned to Dai Long Company after being "stuffed into his briefcase without him knowing". Photo: TH

The Chief of Office of the Ha Tinh Department of Transport said that from the above incidents, this morning (August 29), the Department's leaders issued a warning decision to Mr. Doan Manh Tuong (Deputy Chief of Office) and Bui Anh Tuan for violating discipline, organizing inspections, making administrative violation records at the wrong location, and being negatively reported, causing bad public opinion.

Inspector Pham Son Hai was demoted for violating professional discipline and the law on preventing negativity and fighting corruption. Team leader Dinh Sy Hanh was reprimanded for not controlling, managing, and overseeing all the tasks performed by the interdisciplinary team.

"Currently, the officials who committed the violations have realized the problem and complied with the discipline," said Mr. Quoc Anh.

According to VNE