The woman who brought a series of customs officers to court
Originally just a trader at the border gate, Lam Thi Thuy became a bribery broker and then fled, while a series of customs officials had to appear in court.
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court has just sentenced Lam Thi Thuy (born 1970, An Giang) to 10 years in prison for bribery brokerage.
According to records, Thuy worked as a trader in the area.Khanh Binh - An Giang border gate. In July 2012, To Nguyen Trung Hieu arrivedmet Thuy and proposed to represent Dai Dac Tai LLC to "work" with customs officials at the border gate. Thuy agreed and from the beginning of 2013 started working as agreed with Hieu.
From May 8 to July 19, Thuy received 4.9 billion VND from Hieu. SpecificallyTran Thi Bich Tuyen(Former director of Dai Dac Tai Company Ltd.) at Hieu's request transferred money to Thuy through two accounts opened at Agribank and Sacombank. When the money was in the account, Thuy went to the bank to withdraw cash or signed a check and asked someone else to withdraw it for her.
AfterwardThuy gave this money toNguyen Van Bien and Nguyen Thanh Lam(former Branch Chief and Team Leader of Khanh Binh Border Gate Customs Branch - An Giang) to distribute to customs officials. Then, these customs officials will sign fake export declarations to legalize all goods documents for Tuyen's partner company to create fake documents to request VAT refunds to appropriate state tax money.
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| Defendant Thuy heard the court's verdict. |
As for Mr. Hieu, who fled after committing the crime, the police have issued a wanted notice and will deal with him when he is caught. As for former director Tuyen, the prosecution has tried him on various charges, including bribery, in a major case involving a series of customs officials that has been going on for more than a month. Ms. Tuyen is currently serving a life sentence.
Two customs officers, Bien and Lam, were tried for abusing their positions and powers while performing official duties. Bien is serving a 17-year prison sentence and Lam is serving a 12-year prison sentence.
At the previous trial, Tuyen admitted to paying Thuy to connect with customs officials so they could sign fake confirmations on customs declarations. Bien and Lam admitted to receiving money from businesses that cleared Thuy's customs. Thuy was paid 38 million VND by Hieu.
After committing the crime, Thuy fled, the investigation agency issued a decision to prosecute and search for her. On August 6, 2018, Thuy surrendered. At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as prosecuted.
At court today, the panel of judges determined that because the customs officials confessed to receiving a bribe of 1.1 billion VND from Thuy, Thuy must bear criminal responsibility for the amount of 1.1 billion VND.
