Trinh Xuan Thanh: Paying money to remedy the consequences because of... brotherly love!
Asked by the court about the amount of money to remedy the consequences, defendant Trinh Xuan Thanh said that he paid the above amount because of his responsibility as the leader and because of... brotherly affection with defendant Nguyen Anh Minh, former Deputy General Director of PVC.
On the afternoon of January 9, the Hanoi People's Court continued to question the defendants to clarify the act of embezzlement. Defendant Trinh Xuan Thanh answered the first question.
According to the indictment, in July 2011, Nguyen Anh Minh, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Construction Joint Stock Corporation - PVC, was assigned to be in charge of the Vung Ang - Quang Trach Project Management Board (PMB). Trinh Xuan Thanh and Vu Duc Thuan assigned Nguyen Anh Minh to direct Luong Van Hoa, Director of the PMB, to transfer money for Trinh Xuan Thanh, Vu Duc Thuan, and Nguyen Anh Minh to use.
The money transfer was carried out by Luong Van Hoa through the receiving contact, Bui Manh Hien - former Chief of PVC Office - managing the expenditure under the direction of Trinh Xuan Thanh and Vu Duc Thuan, or giving it to Nguyen Anh Minh.
Defendant Trinh Xuan Thanh at the trial on the afternoon of January 9
At court on the afternoon of January 9, the judge asked Trinh Xuan Thanh again if he asked Nguyen Anh Minh to transfer money at the end of 2011. Defendant Thanh affirmed that he did not ask defendant Minh to transfer money to pay for the holidays.
“Recalling” the process of working with Nguyen Anh Minh, Trinh Xuan Thanh said that he considered defendant Minh as his younger brother. According to Trinh Xuan Thanh, defendant Minh often went to Thanh’s office. Once, Minh asked Thanh if he needed any money for Tet, Thanh scolded him: “You are young, just came up, if I don’t give you any, then that’s fine.”
From there, Trinh Xuan Thanh affirmed: "There is no story that the defendant directed defendant Minh to transfer money."
Immediately afterwards, defendant Nguyen Anh Minh was asked by the court to cross-examine his testimony. The panel of judges recalled Minh's morning testimony about the defendant implementing the Board of Directors' policy of transferring money to PVC for Tet gifts.
Defendant Minh admitted that at defendant Thanh's office, defendant Thanh asked Minh to transfer 5 billion VND as a Tet gift. At the same time, defendant Minh stated that once when he went to Trinh Xuan Thanh's house for dinner, he saw defendant Thanh take a bag of money out of the closet. Minh asked defendant Thanh about the money, Thanh said that it was given by defendant Hoa (Luong Van Hoa, former Director of the Vung Ang - Quang Binh Project Management Board, under PVN).
Before this testimony, Trinh Xuan Thanh appeared surprised because the cabinet that defendant Minh mentioned, according to defendant Thanh, was the defendant's house's shoe cabinet.
“Near Tet, the defendant’s house was crowded with people. No one would leave money in the shoe cabinet. What defendant Minh said was that the money given by defendant Hoa never existed.” - Trinh Xuan Thanh stated.
Asked by the court to confront him, defendant Luong Van Hoa reaffirmed his morning testimony about being asked by defendant Nguyen Anh Minh to transfer money to Trinh Xuan Thanh.
Defendant Thanh continued to object, saying that the defendants' testimonies had many inconsistencies.
Before defendant Hoa's testimony about giving money to his driver to transfer to Trinh Xuan Thanh's driver, the panel of judges asked defendant Hoa's driver to confront him.
Luong Van Hoa's driver admitted to taking defendant Hoa to withdraw money, then leaving 1 billion for Nguyen Anh Minh, and transferring the remaining amount to Trinh Xuan Thanh's driver.
In response, Trinh Xuan Thanh stated that Luong Van Hoa's driver stated that he gave 4 billion VND to Thanh's driver, but according to the previous confrontation, Thanh's driver only said he was given a gift package, not knowing what was inside.
The panel of judges announced the transcript of the testimony of Trinh Xuan Thanh's driver. The testimony showed that Thanh's driver was called down by Hoa's driver, transferred to Thanh's car a gift bag, and told to give it to Thanh. Afterwards, Thanh was taken home in his own car, and brought the gift bag into the house.
Regarding the above testimony, Trinh Xuan Thanh said that this was the first time he heard it. Defendant Thanh also requested the panel of judges to review some details such as the time of the incident, the driver's testimony...
When asked about the amount of money the defendant's family had paid to remedy the consequences, Trinh Xuan Thanh said that, with the responsibility as the leader and because of... brotherly affection for defendant Nguyen Anh Minh, the defendant had suggested that the defendant pay the money to remedy the consequences, and that when the prosecution agencies found the cause, they would handle it later.
Immediately after answering the interrogation, Trinh Xuan Thanh was taken back to the isolation room.