Former army colonel Ut 'Troc' embezzled 725 billion VND and received sentence
Former army lieutenant colonel Dinh Ngoc He (Ut "Troc") influenced Mr. Dinh La Thang to buy the right to collect tolls on Trung Luong highway, hid revenue, and appropriated 725 billion VND.
To carry out this act in 2012, authorities said that Ut "Troc" relied on his relationship with the Minister of Transport.Dinh La Thang.
The investigation results determined that in February 2012, after the Prime Minister approved the proposal of the Ministry of Transport on transferring the right to collect tolls on the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway, Dinh Ngoc He asked Mr. Thang to call Duong Tuan Minh (General Director of Cuu Long Company - under the Ministry of Transport) to request to arrange a time for him to work.
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| Dinh Ngoc He in a trial in May regarding the "golden" land on Ton Duc Thang Street. Photo:Ministry of Defense. |
Two days later, He called Minh, claiming to be "Ut from Thai Son Company" who had been introduced by the Minister earlier. Minh promised to arrange a meeting a week later. However, Mr. Thang continued to call Minh, asked to arrange a specific work schedule, then transferred the phone to He to talk directly.
Dinh Ngoc He knew clearly about the implementation process of the project to transfer the right to collect tolls on the Trung Luong Expressway established by Cuu Long Company, so he and Pham Van Diet (CEO of Yen Khanh Company, established by He) went to Minh's office twice to request support for Yen Khanh Company to participate in the auction of the right to collect tolls on the Trung Luong Expressway. Because according to regulations, enterprises participating in the auction must meet the following conditions: healthy finances, business without loss for two consecutive years... while He's Yen Khanh and Khanh An companies in 2011-2012 had business losses and did not have the financial capacity to pay the auction winning money.To have 2,004 billion VND to pay for the right to collect expressway tolls (starting price proposed by the Ministry of Transport), He organized an internal meeting, directed To Phuoc Hung (Chief Accountant of Yen Khanh Company) to correct the financial report data of the two companies, let Vu Thi Hoan (Director) sign and stamp, and assigned the legal department to fake 4 financial audit reports and prepare documents to participate in the auction.
In early December 2013, He directed Diet and Hoan to hold a meeting of the Board of Members, sign a request to BIDV Bank, Thanh Do branch, to issue a guarantee certificate of more than 100 billion VND for Yen Khanh Company to ensure the signing and implementation of the contract for the purchase and sale of toll collection rights on Trung Luong Expressway.
Then, He used this contract and the third party's assets, which are the right to use more than 3,531 m2 of land of Yen Khanh Hai Thanh Company (appropriated from national defense land, with a mortgage value of more than 717 billion VND) to mortgage at BIDV to borrow 1,703 billion VND.
From 2014 to 2017, the bank disbursed 9 times into Cuu Long Corporation's account at the Ho Chi Minh City State Treasury, paying the auction winnings to Yen Khanh Company. The remaining 300 billion VND, the System directed subordinates to take from the fee revenue.
The investigation agency determined that during the process of collecting tolls on the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway, Ut "Troc" directed his subordinates to commit many fraudulent acts to conceal revenue, appropriating more than 725 billion VND of the state's money.
In 2014, Yen Khanh Company only used software ofMinistry of TransportPre-install and let staff pick up tickets left by drivers passing through the station, to collect and erase serial numbers, reprint new tickets with the same serial numbers as the tickets picked up. This is done manually.
By 2015, after being informed that the actual toll collection figures were much larger, and that the reduction in revenue through manual ticket collection was ineffective, the Steering Committee purchased software from Xuan Phi Company to replace the software of the Ministry of Transport at 4 stations on the expressway, in order to conceal revenue and embezzle toll collection money. At the same time, after the 5-year toll collection period expired, Yen Khanh Company reported that the toll collection was at a loss to continue to request an extension of toll collection and the amount to be paid to purchase the toll collection rights was lower than the purchase price.
The investigation results determined that the actual revenue from 2014 to 2018 at 4 expressway stations was more than 3,266 billion VND, but He and his accomplices adjusted it to more than 2,541 billion VND, appropriating 725 billion VND.
In addition, in 2013, after Thai Son Company was assigned to carry out the construction project of the new Viet Tri bridge, Ut "Troc" took advantage of his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director to ask Licogi 13 Company to sell the BT01 villa at a low price and help him gain the right to construct the package without auction. The villa was then transferred to He's wife, earning a profit of 3.4 billion VND.
During the investigation, Ut "Troc" denied his role in directing the operation of Yen Khanh Company, directing employees to carry out fraudulent tricks to win the auction and embezzle toll money. He also did not admit to taking advantage of his position, power, and influencing others for personal gain.
In relation to the case, former Minister Dinh La Thang, Nguyen Hong Truong (former Deputy Minister); Nguyen Chi Thanh (acting Head of Finance, Ministry of Transport) and 4 others were accused of violating regulations on management and use of state assets causing loss and waste according to Clause 3, Article 219 of the 2015 Penal Code. This is the fourth case in which Mr. Thang has been investigated.
In addition to this case, Ut "Troc" was sentenced by the Central Military Court to 12 years in prison for the crimes of "Abusing power and position in performing official duties" and "Using fake documents of an organization". In May, He was sentenced by the Military Court of the Navy of the Ministry of National Defense to 20 years in prison for the crime of "fraudulently appropriating" property, which is the "golden" land of the Ministry of National Defense on Ton Duc Thang Street. In total, he must serve 30 years in prison - the maximum sentence for a fixed-term sentence.
