The female director in Nghe An used the company logo to protect her truck.
To have the logo of Nguyen Kim Tien Company (Thai Hoa Town) pasted on it, many vehicle owners had to pay a “fee” totaling billions of dong. Only when he stood before the jury did Tien admit the reason behind those meaningless logos…
Follow the car with the "logo" stamp
In early 2023, through understanding the situation at the grassroots level, detectives of the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Police discovered that many vehicles carrying rocks, glue, construction materials in Quy Hop, Nghia Dan districts, Thai Hoa town... often committed administrative violations in the field of road traffic. Thereby, the vehicles were often detained by the authorities for violations such as: Carrying bulk goods, construction materials without covering; carrying goods exceeding the permitted stacking height,...
However, at the time of arrest, some vehicles called a subject who introduced himself as a reporter, journalist, with many connections, who could influence the authorities to ignore the error or reduce the violation for the driver. It is worth mentioning that the above violating vehicles all had one thing in common: they had the logo of a company located in Thai Hoa town.
Realizing signs of "protection" of violating vehicles, the detectives followed and investigated to clarify starting with the owners of the vehicles that violated. Initially, it was determined that most of the vehicles were labeled with the logo of Kim Tien Production, Trade and Service Joint Stock Company. This is a company established on September 25, 2001 by Director Nguyen Kim Tien (born in 1965); residing in Son Tien block, Hoa Hieu ward, Thai Hoa town. At that time, Nguyen Kim Tien was also the Director of Kim Tien Dai Phat Agricultural Cooperative.
Not only that, investigators have collected a lot of evidence related to the fact that many vehicle owners have agreed to pay Tien monthly, with the amount of up to 10 million VND/vehicle to have the "protective" logo pasted on them.
.jpg)
From the initial investigation, on January 6, 2024, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Police and Thai Hoa Town Police presided over and coordinated the arrest of Nguyen Kim Tien. At the same time, conducting an emergency search of the suspect's house and farm, the authorities seized 7 reporter introduction letters from magazines, 1 collaborator card, 1 certificate of journalism in the name of Nguyen Kim Tien, 2 mobile phones, 1 laptop, 1 camera and many other related documents and evidence. All the documents as well as Nguyen Kim Tien's testimony revealed the story behind these lifeless logos.
Revealing the powerful person behind
Not only is she the director of a large transportation company in the area, Nguyen Kim Tien also participates in many beauty contests for transgender people as well as volunteer work in the area, so Tien is known by many people as a successful, beautiful and compassionate businesswoman.
In 2021, Nguyen Kim Tien won the first runner-up prize in the Miss Photogenic Vietnam Elegant Lady contest. In 2022, this woman continued to participate in the Miss Vietnam Brand contest, winning the Ao Dai Beauty and Charity Beauty awards. In conjunction with the above beauty contests, Tien donated 2 items worth nearly 500 million VND to carry out charity projects for the community. Not only that, this woman regularly participates in charity activities, supporting the poor, the disabled... in Thai Hoa town (Nghe An).
In addition, Nguyen Kim Tien is also known as a typical good producer and businessman with a large-scale pig farm and fruit tree plantation in the locality. Ms. Tien is one of two individuals from Nghe An province honored at the 2023 Outstanding Vietnamese Farmers Honoring Ceremony, held in Hanoi on October 13, 2023. Notably, right before her arrest, Ms. Tien was elected as the Chairman of the Thai Hoa Town Farmers' Club of Good Producers and Businessmen.
Admitting that she loves writing and journalism, Tien has often written many articles about the police force. It is known that Tien has also been a contributor to many magazines such as Vietnam Business and Farm Magazine; Business and Development electronic magazine; Business and Green Economy magazine, so this woman has built many relationships.
Taking advantage of this, many individuals and businesses have contacted Tien to ask to have the Kim Tien Company logo pasted on them so that when they are checked by the authorities, they will ask Tien to call and influence the Traffic Police to ignore the violation or change the violation from serious to minor for the vehicle owners. Nguyen Kim Tien has agreed and made an agreement with the vehicle owners that if they agree to pay the monthly fee, Tien will allow the logo to be pasted on them. If his company logo is pasted on them, Tien will intervene in the violations.
Accordingly, from October 2020 to January 2024, Tien agreed with 22 vehicle owners to allow Kim Tien Company logo to be pasted, including traffic violations for 40 vehicles of the above vehicle owners with the purpose of receiving a total amount of 6.3 billion VND.
Hope to have sentence reduced to help farmers
In late December 2024, the Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance trial of defendant Nguyen Kim Tien for the crime of taking advantage of influence over people in positions of power for personal gain.
.jpg)
According to the indictment of the Procuracy, among the 40 vehicles that the investigation agency clarified, there were only 4 vehicles that Tien intervened 6 times, influencing the authorities to ask for forgiveness of the fault. Specifically, he received 105 million VND from Mr. Nguyen Van N., 291 million VND from Mr. Nguyen Quang L., 155 million VND from Mr. Nguyen Van V. and 753 million VND from Mr. Nguyen Manh H; the total amount received was 1.3 billion VND. Therefore, the Court only considered Tien's behavior in "protecting" the 4 vehicle owners above.
At the trial, the defendant Tien initially did not admit to this crime. The female defendant said that the 1.3 billion VND was what the drivers had to pay according to a civil agreement between the two parties to have the logo of Tien's company pasted on them. During the process of paying the drivers to have the logo pasted on them, Tien always thoroughly reminded them to strictly comply with regulations on alcohol concentration, speed... when driving on the road. The defendant did not admit to calling the traffic police to "influence" them to ignore or reduce the violations for the drivers. However, defendant Nguyen Kim Tien later changed his testimony.
At the trial, the representative of the Procuracy maintained the view of prosecuting the defendant Tien for the crime of "Taking advantage of influence over people in positions of power and authority for personal gain". Accordingly, the Procuracy proposed to sentence the defendant to 36 to 42 months in prison.
When the Trial Council allowed him to have his final words, defendant Tien stated that he was passionate about volunteer work, having repeatedly rushed into the heart of floods and the Covid-19 pandemic to support people. He himself received many awards from the central and provincial levels for his achievements in labor and production, especially in the agricultural sector. This defendant stated that his "crime is serious but his achievements are numerous", because he still lacks awareness of the crime, so he hopes the court will consider his achievements and contributions and give him the lightest sentence so that he can soon return to contribute to society. The defendant also hopes that the Trial Council will consider allowing him to soon return to continue his unfinished agricultural projects for the poor and "to help the people".
As soon as Nguyen Kim Tien was arrested, his relatives recovered 500 million VND. The Trial Panel also acknowledged the mitigating circumstances presented by the defendant at the trial. Considering the case as a whole, the Trial Panel of the first instance sentenced Nguyen Kim Tien to 39 months in prison; forcing the defendant to pay the remaining 800 million VND of the total amount of illegal profits to the state budget.
During the investigation, Nguyen Kim Tien also received money from 18 other vehicle owners with a total amount of more than 5 billion VND. The fact that the vehicle owners voluntarily paid money and asked to have the company logo pasted on them was completely without coercion or deception. However, after receiving money from these 18 people, Tien did not influence the Traffic Police force, so there is not enough basis to conclude that this woman committed a crime for the above behavior.
Regarding the 6 Thai Hoa Town Police officers who twice overlooked the violations of 1 of the 4 drivers, after the incident, a report was sent to the unit head to propose measures to handle Nguyen Kim Tien. The actions of these 6 police officers do not constitute a crime. The investigation agency has sent a document to Thai Hoa Town Police to have a form of handling according to regulations.