Former Lieutenant General Phan Van Vinh pleads guilty, declares “suffering and remorse”

On the afternoon of November 19, the panel of judges in the trial related to former Lieutenant General Phan Van Vinh continued questioning Nguyen Van Duong (former Chairman of CNC) - 1 of 3 people accused of operating an online gambling ring worth tens of thousands of billions of dong.

Nguyen Van Duong does not remember how much money he gave the two police generals.

Because Nguyen Van Duong said he did not remember who he gave the money to, the presiding judge asked the prosecutor to present Duong's statement in June 2018. The content of the statement was taken by investigator Nguyen Tuan Hai, with the participation of lawyer Tran Hong Phuc.

Accordingly, with the General Department of Police, CNC supports participation in volunteer programs. Duong directly or sends employees to participate. When the Rikvip card game was first operating, there was not much revenue, each month Duong gave the General Director of Police Phan Van Vinh 2 billion VND each month, then 200,000 USD each month.

One year on Tet holiday, Duong gave 20,000 USD, in Tet 2016 he gave 10,000 USD, in 2014 he gave a Rolex watch worth 7,000 USD, once when he came back from abroad he gave a shirt worth 100-200 USD.

Every time he gave money, Duong brought it to Mr. Vinh's office without anyone knowing. Duong affirmed that he gave money voluntarily and no one forced him because he saw that the former Lieutenant General created conditions for the card game to operate and make a profit. When he came to give money, Duong did not make an appointment.

As for C50, CNC supported Tet money of 700 million VND in 3 different years, in addition to supporting the youth and women's unions, and supporting an anti-virus software package worth 30,000 USD.

When Mr. Hoa proactively went to CNC, Duong gave 24 billion VND. According to Duong's testimony, Mr. Hoa also suggested paying for the expenses and Duong understood that he had created conditions for the network to operate so he voluntarily did so. Duong also stated that he gave hundreds of millions of VND to C50 officials... "The entire amount of money I gave to the units was given by me," the prosecutor read Duong's testimony.

After listening, Duong confirmed that it was correct and said he had nothing to add.

Mr. Phan Van Vinh: I feel extremely remorseful and regretful.

After Duong, the panel of judges moved on to question Mr. Phan Van Vinh. The presiding judge asked if Mr. Vinh's health was good enough to stand and testify. He replied that for the solemnity of the trial, he would stand and if his health did not allow it, he would sit.

When Mr. Vinh admitted being prosecuted for the crimeAbuse of poweris correct, the judge asked: As the Director General of the General Department of Police, how does the defendant see his behavior?

Mr. Vinh replied: "For the past 6 and a half days, I have been sitting in the defendant's chair listening to 90 interrogation sessions of the defendants, feeling extremely tormented and regretful." He realized that not only the 92 defendants were caught up in the law, but more seriously, millions of other citizens and families were also involved in this case. They are now suffering, this is an especially serious case, causing social unrest.

"The defendant is in pain and regrets having been the head and commander of the crime fighting department. The defendant should have done a better job so that this case would not have happened," he said.

Why does C50 get money without contributing capital?

During the interrogation this morning, when the chairman asked "Why did the High-Tech Crime Prevention Police Department (C50) not actually contribute 20% of the capital but CNC Company still cooperated?", Duong said: "I love technology. I want to contribute something to the industry".

Duong said that after its establishment, due to internal reasons, C50 did not contribute capital or send any personnel. For about a month after it was moved to the rented headquarters of the General Department of Police at 10 Ho Giam (Hanoi), CNC also reserved a room for C50 to use for work.

When asked if he gave Phan Van Vinh or Nguyen Thanh Hoa any material benefits, Duong said that was shown in the case file. Today in court, because he had been detained for a long time, Duong was afraid that he was not conscious enough and might make mistakes. According to the file, Duong stated that Vinh and Hoa created conditions for him to organize online gambling on the internet, so when he had income from operating the gambling organization, he "gave kickbacks". Duong stated that he gave Vinh a Rolex watch worth 7,000 USD, 27 billion VND, 1,750,000 USD, a shirt, a bottle of liver tonic. Duong also transferred 700 million VND to C50, a set of anti-virus software worth 30,000 USD and gave Hoa 22 billion VND...