Two Korean defendants have not confessed to the Formosa scaffolding collapse case

(Baonghean.vn)- Today (November 17), the People's Court of Ha Tinh province continued the second day of the first-instance criminal trial of the scaffolding collapse case at the Formosa project construction site (Vung Ang Economic Zone, Ky Anh town, Ha Tinh) against four defendants Lee Jae Myeong (62 years old) and Kim Jong Wook (43 years old, both Korean nationals), Nguyen Anh Tuan (27 years old, residing in Quang Hai commune, Ba Don town, Quang Binh), Nguyen Thai Duc (30 years old, from Ky Trung commune, Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh).

All four defendants were prosecuted for "Violating labor safety regulations" under Clause 3, Article 227 of the Penal Code.

AccusedLee Jae Myeong stood around denying the crime.

In the morning, the trial continued the questioning to clarify the responsibility of each defendant in ensuring labor safety at the construction site. While the two defendants Tuan and Duc confessed honestly and showed remorse, at the trial, the two defendants Lee Jae Myeong and Kim Jong Wook still did not confess honestly. Defendant Lee was evasive in denying responsibility for asking workers to work when the scaffolding was shaking.

Meanwhile, the injured workers from Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Quang Binh all confessed: On the night of March 25, 2015, before the scaffolding collapsed, killing 13 workers and injuring 29 others, the scaffolding system shook twice. When the scaffolding shook, the workers ran to the stairwell area. At that time, Lee Jae Myeong and Kim Jong Wook went up to check and said "ok, it's okay" and forced the workers to work for about 5-7 minutes, then the scaffolding collapsed.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thang - Chief Justice of the People's Court of Ha Tinh Province - Presiding judge of the trial asked defendant Lee Jae Myeong: "As a foreman, responsible for ensuring labor safety for workers, do you think you did the right thing, have you fulfilled your responsibilities?". Defendant Lee replied: "Regarding my responsibilities, I always tried to fulfill them, if someone had reported the recent incident to me in a timely and specific manner, the unfortunate incident would not have happened. I went up to the scaffolding to check if it was electrified in the rain, but I did not know if the scaffolding was shaking."

The remaining defendants at the trial

The presiding judge said: "The defendant's answer is not sincere, but is still evasive in denying the crime. Meanwhile, the testimony of the defendants Duc and Tuan and the testimony of the workers who witnessed the incident clearly showed that the defendant knew the scaffolding was shaking, but still ignored the request for the workers to continue working. According to Vietnamese law, if the defendant sincerely confesses and shows remorse, his sentence will be considered for a lighter sentence." Many workers present at the trial expressed their indignation at the ambiguous testimony of the two defendants Lee and Kim.

Defendant Lee then apologized to the victims and their relatives.

Lee said: "For causing a work accident that killed 13 people and injured 29 others, as the foreman, I would like to apologize to the victims and their families. I am a foreigner so I do not understand Vietnamese law. If the law stipulates that I am at fault, I will accept it and apologize again to the victims and their families."

Defendant Tuan and defendant Duc both admitted that they did not have any qualifications or certificates in operating hydraulic machines for the scaffolding system. Tuan used to work as a construction site cleaner and was then chosen by two Koreans to follow them for several months to learn how to operate hydraulic machines for the scaffolding. Duc was so careless that he caused death when he saw that hydraulic jack No. 16 had dropped nearly 16cm, so he manually raised the hydraulic jack to the same height as the other hydraulic jacks.

The judge said: It is necessary to consider the responsibility of the International Construction and Labor Supply Joint Stock Company (Nibelc) for providing human resources and Samsung C&T Joint Stock Company for bringing in unqualified workers and assigning them the responsibility of operating the hydraulics of the scaffolding.

On the afternoon of December 17, the trial continued with questioning and debate. On December 18, the trial resumed.

An Khanh