Five former coast guard generals on trial for embezzling 50 billion VND.
On the morning of June 27, the Military Court of Hanoi opened the first-instance trial of the "Embezzlement of Assets" case that occurred at the Coast Guard Command.
The defendants brought to trial include: Nguyen Van Son (former Lieutenant General, former Commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard), Hoang Van Dong (former Lieutenant General, former Political Commissar of the Coast Guard Command), Doan Bao Quyet (former Major General, former Deputy Political Commissar of the Coast Guard), Pham Kim Hau (former Major General, former Chief of Staff of the Coast Guard), Bui Trung Dung (former Major General, former Deputy Commander of the Coast Guard), Nguyen Van Hung (former Colonel, former Deputy Commander of the Coast Guard), and Bui Van Hoe (former Lieutenant Colonel, former Deputy Head of the Finance Department of the Coast Guard).
Previously, according to the plan, on the morning of May 31st, the Military Court of Hanoi was scheduled to hold the first-instance criminal trial of the case.Embezzlement of assets"This occurred at the Coast Guard Command (under the Ministry of National Defense).
However, before this trial took place, defendant Bui Van Hoe (former Lieutenant Colonel, former Deputy Head of the Finance Department, Coast Guard Command) hired two additional defense lawyers. Hoe's two lawyers needed more time to study the defense documents for their client, so they requested the court to postpone the trial.
According to the indictment, in February 2019, the Ministry of National Defense allocated a total of 450 billion VND from the State budget for administrative management in 2019 to the Coast Guard Command. Subsequently, at an expanded meeting of the Coast Guard Party Committee Standing Committee, it was decided to allocate over 150 billion VND to the Technical Department to organize the procurement of supplies and equipment for the units.
The indictment states that defendant Nguyen Van Son met with and instructed Nguyen Van Hung, Director of the Technical Department, to withdraw 50 billion VND during the procurement of supplies and transfer it to the Command for use.
In early April 2019, Mr. Son proactively discussed with Hoang Van Dong, Doan Bao Quyet, Pham Kim Hau, and Bui Trung Dung the directive to withdraw 50 billion VND to be used for the commanders of the Command Headquarters. They all agreed and had no objections.
On May 4, 2019, Mr. Son signed a decision allocating over 179 billion VND in budget to the Technical Department and further instructed Nguyen Van Hung to withdraw 50 billion VND to transfer to the Command Headquarters. Following Son's instructions, the defendant Hung instructed six heads of professional departments within the Technical Department to withdraw the full 50 billion VND. When they objected, saying it was very difficult, the defendant Hung argued that "the withdrawal of 50 billion VND must be considered a task assigned by the superior and must be completed."
Upon receiving the money, defendant Son divided it among himself and four other defendants, giving each of them 10 billion VND. After the case was discovered, this group of defendants returned the money.
Regarding the six heads of departments under the Technical Department, the Central Military Procuratorate determined that they had a dependent relationship, were following orders from superiors, had no motive for personal gain, and were unaware that the 50 billion VND was subsequently divided among individuals; therefore, they were not prosecuted.