Customs officer tried for taking billions in bribes today

On March 29, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City tried defendant Nguyen Truong Duy (civil servant of the Customs Control Team - Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department) for bribery.

This trial was presided over by Judge Nguyen Thi Thanh Binh. Defendant Nguyen Truong Duy invited four lawyers to defend him, including Phan Trung Hoai, Do Hai Binh, Hoang Tien Luu and Nguyen Hoang Trung.

Notably, among the 42 people summoned to attend the trial as people with related rights and obligations, there was Mr. Dinh Ngoc Thang, Deputy Director in charge of the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department.

Previously, on September 20, 2017, the first trial was opened. However, during the procedural part, the lawyers requested to postpone the trial to summon more people with related rights and obligations... After that, the panel of judges consulted and decided to postpone the trial.

In just a few days, Nguyen Truong Duy received a bribe of billions.

According to the indictment, the Customs Control Team is the unit directly implementing customs control to prevent smuggling, trade fraud, and illegal transportation of goods across the border...

Based on suspicious information collected from various sources, the Customs Control Team coordinates with local customs branches to inspect imported goods of organizations and individuals engaged in import activities. During 2014-2015, the Customs Control Team issued many coordination forms but most of them did not detect violations.

Nguyen Truong Duy is a customs officer, a local scout, with the authority and responsibility to collect information on signs of smuggling... at Cat Lai port, Linh Trung export processing zone to report to superiors.

From January 2015 until his arrest, Duy directly contacted, interacted with, and negotiated with business owners and individuals who carried out customs procedures so that they would pay money so that when importing goods, they would not be inspected by the Customs Control Team.

The investigation agency clarified that from December 21, 2015 to December 29, 2015, 50 businesses illegally paid money to Duy, the total amount was nearly 542 million VND, Duy received the money at his mother's house and at his office at Cat Lai port.

Based on the crime report sent by the Department of Security, Finance, Currency, and Investment - General Department of Security, the Security Investigation Agency - Ministry of Public Security arrested and urgently searched Nguyen Truong Duy and seized more than 964 million VND.

Initially, Duy was prosecuted for abusing his position and power while performing official duties. Later, the investigation agency changed the charge to accepting bribes.