Business director sentenced for smuggling people abroad

(Baonghean.vn) - On the morning of March 27, the Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of Le Thanh Toan (born 1992), residing in Dien Yen commune, Dien Chau, for the crime of "Organizing others to flee abroad".

According to the indictment, Le Thanh Toan is the director of Thanh Toan Trading, Service and Tourism Company Limited (located in Hamlet 14, Dien Yen Commune, Dien Chau). This company was not licensed by the competent state agency to recruit workers to work abroad. However, for economic purposes, Le Thanh Toan agreed to receive 855 million VND from 7 people including: Nguyen Van Cuong, Ta Huu Xuan, Tang Van Manh, Pham Van Oanh, Tran Thi Thu Trang, Hoang Dinh Ngoc, Tran Dinh Hung to complete procedures for them to go to Korea by taking advantage of traveling to Jeju Island, Korea so that these people could stay in Korea to work illegally.

Le Thanh Toan at the trial

On September 5, 2015, Toan organized for the 7 people above to go from Tan Son Nhat airport, Ho Chi Minh City to Jeju island, (South Korea). When arriving at Jeju island, these 7 people were discovered by Korean authorities and deported back to Vietnam.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as stated in the indictment.

The panel of judges determined that the 7 citizens were the ones who directly discussed with Le Thanh Toan about escaping to South Korea to work, knowing that Toan was illegally sending them to South Korea to work through tourism, and had discussed and agreed to do so, so they must also bear some responsibility. However, their purpose was to find jobs and improve their income. After being discovered, they actively cooperated with the Investigation Agency. It was deemed necessary to hand them over to the local authorities where they reside for a full review and education.

Considering the defendant's behavior is dangerous to society, the case is serious, seriously infringing on the labor export policy of the Vietnamese state and security and political work in foreign relations between Vietnam and Korea, so it needs to be strictly handled before the law.

However, during the investigation as well as at the trial, the defendant confessed honestly, repented, and returned to the other 7 citizens a part of the collected money, so it is necessary to consider reducing the defendant's sentence, showing the leniency of the law. The panel sentenced Le Thanh Toan to 18 months in prison but suspended the sentence, forcing him to return to the 7 people over 230 million VND in arrears.

Nhu Binh