Tricks of receiving bribes of hundreds of millions of dong by 3 former traffic police officers
When the vehicle owner came in to do the paperwork and put the money in the papers, the three former traffic police officers wrote down the amount of money received with the symbol "cm" (1cm is equivalent to 100,000 VND) on a self-prepared A4 paper.
On March 21, the People's Court of An Giang province tried and sentenced Huynh Huu Tri (former Head of Tan Chau Waterway Traffic Police Station) to 5 years and 6 months in prison; Le Van Phat and Dao Quoc Vi (former officers of the station), each defendant to 4 years and 6 months in prison, all for the crime of "receiving bribes".
According to the indictment, in early May 2024, Tri directed Phat and Vi to receive money from the vehicle owner and the captain of the barge transporting sand from the upper Tien River through the station to avoid inspection or to ignore violations.
Upon receiving instructions, when the sand barges arrived at the station, Phat or Vi would just sit on the floating house and not use a motorboat to inspect. Instead, the two former officials allowed a local to drive a wooden boat from the station to the side of the barge, and welcome the captain or the owner of the vehicle into the floating house.
Upon arrival, the vehicle owner or captain would clip money onto the vehicle documents and files and give them to Phat or Vi, who were sitting at the glass window of the floating house. These two former officers would receive the documents, put the money in a desk drawer, and then return the documents.
The two defendants wrote down the amount of money received and the vehicle's license plate number on an A4 sheet of paper (a self-written form, typed with numbers from 1-100), agreeing to write the money using the symbol "cm" (1cm is equivalent to 100,000 VND).
At the end of their shift, Phat and Vi gave the above A4 paper and the bribe money to Huynh Huu Tri.
At 5:15 p.m. on May 12, 2024, the Special Interdisciplinary Inspection Team of the Ministry of Public Security inspected Tan Chau station and discovered that defendant Phat was sitting on duty at the floating house, directly receiving money from 4 captains and barge owners who came to present documents.
The investigation agency determined that from May 10-12, 2024, Phat and Vi received more than 100 million VND from more than 260 vehicles. The two did not have time to give the above amount to the defendant Tri because it was a weekend.
Expanding the investigation, from May 6-9, 2024, Phat and Vi also received more than 350 million VND and handed it over to defendant Tri.
At the investigation agency, all three defendants admitted to their crimes, in which Tri was the one who directed Phat and Vi to receive the money.
For the vehicle owners, the investigation agency determined that the money giving had been going on for a long time. People who came to the station to report to each other spread the word, clipping money into documents and giving them to the station staff to avoid being physically inspected or administratively punished.
The vehicle owner's act of giving money showed signs of bribery, but the amount of bribe was not enough to warrant criminal prosecution. The Investigation Agency has transferred the case and documents to the Provincial Police for handling according to their authority.
