Former police officer who smuggled supercars gets 14 years in prison

On the afternoon of September 10, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court concluded the trial and issued sentences for the defendants in the case of smuggling "super cars", profiting hundreds of billions of dong.

For the two former police officers, the People's Court sentenced Nguyen Giang Lam (born in 1975, residing in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City) to 14 years in prison for "Smuggling"; Bui Khac Ha (born in 1975, residing in District 6, Ho Chi Minh City) to 5 years for "Abusing position and power while performing official duties".

Committing the crime of "Smuggling", defendant Nguyen Quang Vinh (born in 1982, residing in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City) received 14 years, Tran Phuoc Thanh (born in 1967, residing in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) received 12 years and Tran Thai Nguyen (born in 1972, residing in Da Lat City) received 8 years in prison.

Defendants Nguyen Giang Lam and Bui Khac Ha (face covered) listen to the verdict

At the same time, defendants Vinh, Lam, Thanh and Nguyen must return all illegal profits and compensate for taxes.

In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court recommended investigating to clarify the role and handling if violations are discovered against overseas Vietnamese and related car salon owners.

The verdict alleges that in 2011, Vinh, Nguyen, and Thanh colluded with Lam (who was then working at the Immigration Department - Ho Chi Minh City Police) to buy car import permits under the repatriation program for overseas Vietnamese.

The group asked officers from the Immigration Department - Ministry of Public Security to stamp fake immigration stamps on overseas Vietnamese passports.

In two years, this network handled the import documents of all kinds of "super cars" (motorbikes and cars) under the names of 64 repatriated overseas Vietnamese. Of these, 54 cases were hired to have their names on the documents at a price of 10,000 USD/document.

Because the cars were branded as those of overseas Vietnamese returning home, the subjects successfully "avoided" hundreds of billions of dong in import tax, special consumption tax and value added tax.

Bui Khac Ha - former police officer of Tan Son Nhat International Airport Border Gate Station stamped import and export verification stamps on the passports of 16 overseas Vietnamese.

Meanwhile, these 16 people did not buy plane tickets or go abroad. From there, Giang, Vinh and their accomplices legalized their documents and successfully carried out smuggling and illegal profiteering.