Facebook anti-corruption owner proposed 5-6 years in prison

Defendant Tran Minh Loi affirmed that his actions were to fight corruption and not to commit a crime.

On March 24, the People's Court of Dak Nong province continued the trial of Tran Minh Loi and his accomplices on charges of giving and receiving bribes and taking advantage of influence over people in positions of power for personal gain.

At court, defendant Lanh Thanh Binh, former lieutenant of the Dak Mil District Police Reconnaissance Team, admitted to the crime. Binh said he was assigned to investigate a gambling case that occurred in Thuan An Commune (Dak Mil) on January 15, 2016. After arresting the gamblers, Tri and An, relatives of the gamblers, contacted Binh to request bail for their relatives.

According to Binh, after meeting An to receive the money (60 million VND), Binh received a phone call from Loi saying he needed to meet for some business. Before that, Binh did not know Loi. Loi showed Binh a clip of Binh receiving the money. Binh said he asked Loi to let it go, but Loi made it clear that he had to explain the matter of receiving the money.

Defendant Tran Minh Loi presented his argument in court. Photo: DAI DUNG

After that, Binh took a taxi to Loi's house to meet him. "When he met Loi at his house, Loi wrote on a piece of paper "How much money do you have with you?" The defendant was about to answer orally when Mr. Loi signaled him not to speak but to write it down. The defendant wrote on the paper "I only have 20 million". Loi wrote "If you bring another 200 million, I will forgive you" - Binh explained...

According to Binh's statement, every time he went to Loi's house to give money, Loi wrote down the transactions on paper, used his phone to draft the exchanges, and then deleted them. Binh also said that the messages begging Loi to ignore and suggesting giving money were all sent by Loi borrowing Binh's phone and then texting them to Loi's phone number. Binh also said that Loi then continued to ask Binh for another 300 million VND before considering letting him go, making Binh extremely confused. Due to his financial capacity, Binh reported the incident of receiving bail money to the authorities and filed a complaint against Loi.

Regarding Binh's testimony, Loi denied offering to accept money to ignore it. The investigation agency also does not have enough evidence to prove Loi's actions...

At the end of the questioning, the representative of the People's Procuracy read the indictment, maintaining the prosecution's stance on the defendants. The Procuracy proposed that the court sentence Tran Minh Loi to 5-6 years in prison. Lanh Thanh Binh to between two years and two years and six months in prison, suspended...

In the debate, some lawyers argued that Loi did not commit a crime, some lawyers proposed to exempt Loi and An from criminal prosecution, some lawyers asked the court to return the case for further investigation... The prosecutor thanked the lawyers for their arguments and said he would report back to the leadership.

Speaking in court, Tran Minh Loi tearfully said that when he committed to fighting corruption, he was determined to face danger. “Playing with fire will burn your hands, playing with knives will make you bleed. I accept it but I feel sorry for the people” - defendant Loi said and affirmed that his work was to fight corruption and not to commit a crime.

At 6:55 p.m., the debate ended. The court announced an extended deliberation, with the verdict scheduled for March 27.

According to PLO