The path of 9 kg of bribe money to the deputy director of intelligence

On the morning of November 6, at the end of the trial of the bribery case at the Hanoi People's Court, defendant Nguyen Duy Linh, former Deputy Director of the General Department of Intelligence (Ministry of Public Security), received 14 years in prison for the crime of bribery.Accept bribes,sentence below the prosecution framework due to some mitigating circumstances.

Mr. Linh was absent from the sentencing hearing due to poor health. However, true to his promise, immediately after his sudden confession at the interrogation session on the afternoon of November 5, his wife paid 5 billion VND in compensation on her husband’s behalf.

According to the investigation results, when this money was still in her husband's hands, it was a bag of 10,000 polymer bills with a face value of 500,000 VND, weighing 8.896 kg.

In June 2017, Vu confided this matter to his friend of seven years, feng shui master and spiritual consultant Ho Huu Hoa, according to the indictment and testimony at the trial on November 5.

Coincidentally, Hoa also met Vu's superior at the General Department of Intelligence, Mr. Nguyen Duy Linh, and many times went to his private home in Hanoi to "consult on feng shui".

Accepting Vu's offer, in the following meeting with Mr. Linh, Hoa suggested connecting so that the two could "talk and understand each other".

"At first, Mr. Linh hesitated a bit, thought about it, and said that this was a bit sensitive and he didn't want to meet. But then Mr. Linh asked me to turn on the phone to talk and connect with Mr. Vu," defendant Hoa testified at the trial, saying that the content of the conversation was unclear because Mr. Linh took the phone to another place to talk.

Meeting Vu again a few days later in Ho Chi Minh City, Hoa did not have to wait long for Vu to tell her the content of this conversation. "Comrade Linh said he needed money to take care of his work and asked for financial support. I asked what kind of support, specifically? Comrade Linh said it depended on my ability," an excerpt from Vu "Nhom"'s self-declaration was announced by the panel of judges and shown in court.

Hearing the story, Hoa advised Vu to "give Mr. Linh some money" so that Vu's work could go smoothly. Vu intended to give Mr. Linh 10 billion VND, but Hoa stopped him with the reason "I haven't helped much yet, so give me that much, if I give you, I'll only give you 5 billion VND". Vu agreed and quickly prepared money for his next business trip to Hanoi.

The starting point of this 9 kg of cash is a 5-star hotel in Tay Ho district..This is where Vu rents a room for long-term stay every time he goes on business trips to the capital.

On August 16, 2017, in the hotel room, Vu personally put 10,000 VND bills in a black plastic bag, sealed it with tape, and put it in a dark rectangular paper bag. He then called his private driver to the hotel lobby and told him to deliver it to Hoa.

At 10:13 a.m. the same day, receiving a call from Vu's private driver, Hoa went down from the apartment building to the lobby and approached the car. The driver went around to the back, opened the trunk, took out the bag and gave it to him.

The bag was later determined by Hoa to be 45x20x30 cm in size, weighing about 8 kg, and containing "very square" packaging.

27 hours later, Vu's wallet was "changed hands" for the second time. At 1:00 p.m. on August 17, 2017, Hoa made an appointment with a subordinate of Mr. Linh to have lunch at a restaurant in the Giao Luu urban area, Bac Tu Liem district.

Having accepted a request from Chief Linh over the phone, when he stood up to leave, this officer carried the gift bag Hoa had entrusted to him, got into a black Camry with license plate 80B, and headed to the agency's headquarters in Cau Giay district, about 6.7 km away.

33 days after Mr. Linh received 9 kg of money, Vu was disciplined by the Ministry of Public Security and dismissed from the People's Public Security Force on September 20, 2017. Exactly three months later, Vu was prosecuted and had an arrest warrant issued for the crime.Intentionally revealing state secretsBut at this time, Vu had fled Vietnam.

In early January 2018, Vu was arrested in Singapore. Authorities are investigating two things at the same time: the case Vu is being prosecuted for and "did anyone inform Vu to flee to Singapore?".

After a few days of being arrested, Vu wrote 6 self-confessions, admitting that 3 days before the arrest warrant was issued, Mr. Linh used Viber software to send Vu a message and advised him to go on a short trip, telling him to "try to go to a European country". But Vu was arrested before he could leave Singapore to go to Europe.

In his self-declaration, Vu also stated that he packed styrofoam boxes with bundles of 100 USD bills to give to Mr. Linh three times, including 2 million USD once and 1 million USD twice each.

The last time the gift was given and received was determined by the indictment to be on December 10, 2017, just 10 days before Vu was prosecuted for the crime.Intentionally revealing state secretsThe final gift was a styrofoam box sealed with white tape.

Vu's driver and Linh's assistant also confessed that in addition to the 5 billion VND being investigated in the case, they also helped Vu and Linh give and receive gifts 4 other times.

The investigation agency recorded that the time, location, call logs and phone signal positions of the 4 gift delivery and receipt times were completely consistent. However, because there was no basis to determine what was inside the gift boxes and only based on Vu's testimony, the police did not have enough grounds to prosecute.

Vu’s driver, the police officer and the personal assistant of defendant Linh were the three witnesses summoned by the jury during the trial. They testified that they acted on the instructions and requests of Mr. Linh and Vu without knowing what was inside the gift packages and did not benefit from them, so the investigation agency did not prosecute them.

Although Mr. Linh unexpectedly confessed his guilt, he did not disclose how he used the 9 kg of money, only guaranteeing that it was "not used for any illegal purpose". He said he was a man with many dreams. When working for the industry, he was always aware of protecting the country, becoming a model official and doing many great things for the country. But he made a mistake because of a moment of "not being himself".

The amount of illegal profit, 5 billion VND, was assessed by the jury as "exceptionally large". After 4 years, 2 months, and 20 days, the bribe money was returned by Mr. Linh's family and ended its "fate" at the State Treasury.