'King of car logos' boss may face heavier sentence
Thoi and his accomplices were considered for a higher penalty than the first time the case was brought to trial.
Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on the morning of August 14th is scheduled to try the ring selling "royal car logos" and rescuing overloaded cars, led by Nguyen Van Thoi (42 years old) and Le Thi Cam Van (36 years old) for the crime ofbribe
In connection with the case, Nguyen Canh Chan (former officer of Team 1 of the Traffic Police Department of Dong Nai Province Police) was prosecuted for the crime.Bribery broker.He is the only one of 80 traffic police officers and traffic inspectors involved in the case to be brought to trial.
The Supreme People's Procuracy's indictment determined that Thoi, Van and their accomplices had committed bribery, but when confronted, 62 traffic police officers and 18 traffic police officers denied receiving bribes, so the investigation agency had no basis to prosecute.
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Former traffic police officer Nguyen Canh Chan. Photo: Hai Duyen. |
Court increases penalty
Before opening the trial, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City changed the terms of the trial of Nguyen Canh Chan, Nguyen Van Thoi, Tran Quoc Thai, and Le Thi Cam Van - making them more severe than the indictment prosecuted by the Supreme People's Procuracy.
In which, Chan was tried under Clause 4, Article 365 with a penalty of 8-15 years in prison, instead of Clause 2 with a sentence of 2 to 7 years in prison. Thoi and Thai were considered under Clause 4, Van under Clause 3, Article 364 with a penalty of 7-20 years in prison instead of 2-7 years in prison.
The case was first brought to trial on April 19, but the panel of judges returned the file and requested the investigation agency to clarify the bribe recipients, but the Supreme People's Procuracy maintained its opinion.
Protect 15,000 violating vehicles
According to the indictment, during his time in the transportation business, Thoi was fined many times by traffic inspectors and traffic police in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Ho Chi Minh City for overloading his vehicles. He got to know some officials after paying the fines, so he proposed to pay money and put up logos.number 68andThanh Do Garageon top of freight cars for identification, the police will not fine.
Thoi asked Mr. Chan for help. This officer raised the issue with a captain of Team 1 of the Traffic Police Department of Dong Nai Province Police and was accepted. Thoi transferred a total of nearly 600 million VND to Mr. Chan (through his wife's account).
Working with the investigation agency, Mr. Chan confessed that he had given everything to his superiors. Each time he gave, the team leader gave him 5-10 million VND. Every time Thoi's logo-covered car was caught, he called his boss to provide the license plate number and location for "rescue".
In April 2015, the Captain of Team 1 passed away due to illness. Mr. Chan asked the Deputy Head of the Traffic Police Department of Dong Nai Province Police to help. Thoi transferred 600 million VND to Mr. Chan to thank the deputy head, but this traffic police officer only gave his boss 300 million VND, and kept the rest for himself.
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Thoi (wearing glasses), Van (standing) at the first instance trial in April. Photo:Hai Duyen |
Thoi invited Tran Quoc Thai (47 years old) to sell logos to drivers for 2.5-3 million VND per month. They promised that overloaded vehicles would not be fined by the traffic police, and if they were fined, they would bring it back to Thoi and pay for it. In addition, Thai also had the task of monitoring the routes where the Special Staff Team of the Traffic Police Department - Ho Chi Minh City Police Department patrolled and then texted Thoi and those who had bought the logos to avoid them.
From 2014 to 2015, Thoi’s network sold 15,000 vehicles, illegally earning nearly 23 billion VND. They used part of the money to bribe traffic police, pay fines for car owners who bought the logo but were still fined, and pocketed the rest for personal expenses.
The investigation agency accused Thai of giving bribes of more than 2.2 billion VND, pocketing 360 million VND for himself; Thoi bribed the police with 5 billion VND, benefiting nearly 17.5 billion VND.
Similarly, Le Thi Cam Van sold logos to car owners, earning a total of 7.9 billion VND. Every month, Van paid officers of Team 7 and Team 8 of the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Police 300,000 VND per car.
Article 298 of the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code stipulates the limits of trial: 1. The court tries the defendants and the acts according to the charges prosecuted by the People's Procuracy and the court has decided to bring the case to trial. 2. The court may try the defendant under a different clause than the one prosecuted by the Procuracy in the same article, or for another crime equal to or lesser than the crime prosecuted by the Procuracy. 3. In case the court finds it necessary to try the defendant for a more serious crime than the one prosecuted by the Procuracy, the court shall return the case file to the Procuracy for re-prosecution and clearly inform the defendant or the defendant's representative and defense attorney of the reason. If the Procuracy still maintains the crime prosecuted, the court has the right to try the defendant for a more serious crime. |