The route of 29 official vehicles under the command of former Lieutenant Colonel Ut "Troc"

On the afternoon of July 30, the Military Court of Military Region 7 continued to question Mr. Dinh Ngoc He (aka Ut "Troc", former Army Lieutenant Colonel, former Deputy General Director of Thai Son Corporation, Ministry of National Defense) about applying for a license plate for an official vehicle and then mortgaging, leasing, and lending it.

According to the prosecution agency, Thai Son Investment Development Joint Stock Company of the Ministry of National Defense was initially established with 51% capital contribution from Thai Son Corporation of the Ministry of National Defense. Mr. Cung Dinh Minh (Head of Planning and Investment Department) and Dinh Ngoc He (Deputy Head of Business Department) are representatives of Thai Son Corporation's shares in this enterprise.

Taking advantage of the name of a "subsidiary", Mr. He, through the Board of Directors of Thai Son Corporation, requested the competent authorities of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security to purchase vehicles with their own capital and register 38 vehicles with military license plates (red license plates) and blue license plates 80A.

Mr. He directed Tran Van Lam (General Director of Thai Son Investment Development Joint Stock Company, Ministry of National Defense) to mortgage cars to credit institutions to borrow or guarantee loans. Of these, 12 cars (4 cars with license plate 80A, 8 military cars) were mortgaged at PGBank, 6 cars (2 blue license plate, 4 military) were mortgaged at MBBank; 4 cars with military license plate at BIDV, 7 cars with blue license plate 80A were mortgaged at Lien Viet Bank and VPBank.

Mr. Lam, as directed, also rented three military-plate cars and two 80A blue-plate cars to three companies and gave some cars to many people outside of society to use.

Authorities determined that, taking advantage of the lax management of Thai Son Corporation, Mr. He abused his position and authority to make dishonest reports about the implementation of defense economic tasks by Thai Son Investment Development Joint Stock Company of the Ministry of National Defense in order to obtain a military license plate, blue license plate 80A, from the competent authority.

29 vehicles were illegally used by leasing and mortgaging, causing a loss of more than 3.1 billion VND in registration tax; affecting the reputation of the Army and state agencies.

Defendant Lam stated that Mr. He was the one who decided to lease, mortgage, and lend these vehicles. Several other witnesses also confirmed that Mr. He lent the vehicles.

Mr. Cung Dinh MinhHe said he knew that some of the cars were mortgaged, but he did not know about the car leasing. “Did you know that the company used car purchase contracts as collateral for loans?”, the defendant He’s lawyer asked. Mr. Minh replied: “It’s been so long, I can’t remember.”

According to the accusation of the Central Military Procuracy, through leasing and borrowing official vehicles, the Thai Son Company of the Ministry of National Defense has earned more than 6 billion VND. Presenting in court this afternoon, Mr. He denied it, saying that this was the policy of the company's executive board. "Although the defendant is the legal representative, he has given full authority to the executive board," Mr. He said.

Defendant He confessed to hiring people to study to get a university degree.

According to the People's Procuracy, knowing that buying a fake university degree without attending training courses at the university is a violation of the law, Mr. He still used it to declare party membership records, request salary increases, and confer military ranks against regulations. Therefore, "this is one of the main reasons leading to the defendants' violations of criminal law." Therefore, Mr. He must bear criminal responsibility for the crime.Using fake documents of organizationsaccording to Clause 2, Article 341 of the 2015 Penal Code.

To clarify this content during the interrogation this morning, on the afternoon of July 30, prosecutor Nguyen Hong Phong continued to return to question. Defendant He stated that his National Economics University degree in management was obtained through someone else. It was not until 2005 that the defendant realized it was a fake degree and no longer used it.

However, the representative of the People's Procuracy proved that in the files for salary increase and military rank promotion in 2007, 2010, and 2012, the defendant He submitted this graduation certificate. In the party membership profile dated December 8, 2012, Mr. He stated that he studied at the National Economics University, majoring in business administration, stating "guarantee to declare fully and clearly". In the party membership card, the defendant stated that he studied at the National Economics University from 1996-2000, also "guaranteeing the truth" and then signed.

Faced with the above evidence, Mr. He denied it, saying that the authorities had made a wrong assessment. "The defendant did not declare it like that. That is the truth, I request the Trial Panel to consider it," he said.

The trial continues today.