Do not deliberately 'politicize' tax evasion cases
(Baonghean.vn) - Some social "activists" and foreign newspapers deliberately distort the nature of tax evasion cases to infer and accuse Vietnam of violating human rights protection in environmental matters. Such false arguments are unacceptable.
VOA Vietnamese has just released a document titled “UN expert accuses Vietnam of suppressing environmental rights defenders”. The document quotes Mr. Surya Deva, the UN’s special expert on development rights, saying: “The arrest and conviction of a number of environmental human rights defenders on charges such as tax evasion is having a negative impact on the willingness of independent NGOs to contribute to the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP)”. It is important to note here that VOA Vietnamese and Mr. Surya Deva have deliberately distorted the nature of tax evasion cases to infer and accuse Vietnam of violating environmental human rights protection.
We are familiar with the trick of "politicizing" criminal cases and then attributing them to sensitive political issues such as democracy, human rights, ethnicity, religion, environment... to sabotage Vietnam by hostile, reactionary forces and ill-intentioned organizations and individuals.
The above arguments of VOA Vietnamese and Mr. Surya Deva further demonstrate that conspiracy, trick, and scheme. The tax evasion cases that VOA Vietnamese and Mr. Surya Deva want to talk about here are: Nguy Thi Khanh (tax evasion of 456 million VND); Dang Dinh Bach (tax evasion of 1.38 billion VND); Mai Phan Loi, Bach Hung Duong evaded taxes of nearly 2 billion VND and most recently Hoang Thi Thu Hong (tax evasion of 6.7 billion VND)...
In fact, these are criminal cases of tax evasion that have been investigated, prosecuted and brought to public trial in accordance with the law, with clear documents and evidence. In court, the defendants all admitted to violating the law, repented and regretted their crimes and hoped for leniency.
The truth of each case is very clear and transparent. Yet VOA Vietnamese and Mr. Surya Deva have put forward false arguments, distorting the nature of the cases; deliberately embellishing and fabricating to create the defendants in each case as "environmental protection heroes". In fact, this is still the trick of "politicizing" criminal cases that hostile and reactionary forces have often used for a long time. From individual criminal cases, they turn the issue in another direction and then infer and accuse that "Vietnam suppresses environmental rights defenders"; "Vietnam prevents environmental activists"; "Vietnam imprisons those who speak out to protect the environment"...
VOA Vietnamese and the United Nations special expert believe that the number of defendants in the above cases who were “persecuted” due to their “environmental advocacy” activities are not true to the nature of the case, deliberately ignoring the truth, distorting, inferring, and fabricating stories to slander the Vietnamese State. The statements of VOA Vietnamese and Mr. Surya Deva are excessive, ignore the truth and have bad intentions towards Vietnam.
The Vietnamese State attaches great importance to environmental protection. The 2020 Law on Environmental Protection emphasizes: “Environmental protection is a condition, foundation, central and prerequisite factor for sustainable socio-economic development”. The environment is also an issue that the Communist Party of Vietnam pays special attention to with many specific viewpoints, guidelines and policies throughout its leadership.
For Vietnam, environmental protection is one of the issues of special importance, great influence, relationship, interaction, and together determine the sustainable development of the country. The documents of the 13th National Congress of our Party continue to affirm the viewpoint that economic growth is always linked with environmental protection in each step and each development policy; taking the protection of the living environment and people's health as the top goal;...
Vietnam has always strongly affirmed its commitment to environmental protection, climate change response, green and sustainable development. In Vietnam, associations, groups, individuals and non-governmental organizations are guaranteed to operate normally in accordance with regulations; at the same time, they must comply with and be responsible before the law for their activities.
The Vietnamese Government always encourages and creates favorable conditions for all individuals, associations, groups, and non-governmental organizations to participate in environmental protection activities, contributing to the sustainable development of the country in accordance with the provisions of law. Collectives and individuals who have made positive contributions to environmental protection are recognized and honored by the Vietnamese State.
Although the tax evaders mentioned above have made certain contributions to the environmental field, tax evasion is still a violation of the law and has a negative impact on society. Like every country in the world, in Vietnam, only those who violate the law and commit crimes are arrested, detained, investigated and tried. There is no such thing as Vietnam arbitrarily detaining “environmental defenders” as reported by VOA Vietnamese and Mr. Surya Deva.
Using the guise of “environmental protection” to cover up tax evasion cases to achieve political purposes, fabricating stories, accusing the Vietnamese State of violating human rights regarding the environment, and interfering in Vietnam’s internal affairs are unacceptable actions. Vietnam resolutely opposes, condemns, and rejects such false arguments./.
