Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Former Hanoi Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung, 53 years old, and three former police officers were convicted of appropriating confidential documents of the Nhat Cuong case.
On the morning of December 11, after a 4-hour closed trial, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced defendant Chung to 5 years in prison for appropriating secret state documents.according to Article 337 of the Penal Code 2015.
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| Mr. Chung sat in the front row. Photo: VNA |
For the same crime, Pham Quang Dung (former officer of the Department of Investigation Police on Economic Crimes, Corruption, and Smuggling - C03, Ministry of Public Security) received 4 years and 6 months in prison; Nguyen Hoang Trung (Mr. Chung's driver) was sentenced to 2 years in prison and Nguyen Anh Ngoc (46 years old, former officer of the Hanoi People's Committee Office) received 18 months in prison.
Trung is a former Hanoi Police officer; Ngoc is a former Deputy Chief of Cau Giay District Police, both assigned to work at the Hanoi People's Committee Office.
The verdict did not mention the civil part and additional penalties, said lawyer Ngo Kim Lan, defending defendant Dung.
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| Mr. Chung talks to the judge before returning to prison. Photo: Pham Du |
Lawyer Giang Hong Thanh, defending defendant Trung, said at the trial the four defendants admitted their wrongdoings. Mr. Chung and three accomplices were given the opportunity to confess honestly, and this was one of the grounds for the court to sentence them below the penalty frame of the prosecution.
Due to poor health, Mr. Chung was allowed to sit during the interrogation. The former Chairman of Hanoi confessed to being the mastermind, as accused. "In his final words, Mr. Chung apologized to the Party, the State and the voters for losing their trust," said lawyer Thanh.
According to the indictment, Mr. Chung and his wife are people with related rights and obligations in the case that occurred atNhat Cuong Company- a major case under the supervision and direction of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption. Knowing that Dung was recruited to participate in the investigation of this case, he asked him to collect and "gain information on the direction of the investigation".
With 5 times of appropriating 9 confidential documents, Dung transferred 6 documents to Mr. Chung twice. Trung and Anh Ngoc were accused of participating in printing and editing 3 confidential documents for Mr. Chung once.
