Female director sentenced for using press credentials to extort money from truck drivers.

On the morning of December 23, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial of defendant Nguyen Kim Tien (born in 1965), residing in Hoa Hieu ward, Thai Hoa town (Nghe An province), on the charge of "Abusing influence over persons holding positions of power to gain illicit profits".

Investigations revealed that Nguyen Kim Tien was, at the time, the Director of Kim Tien Trading and Service Joint Stock Company and the Director of Kim Tien Dai Phat Agricultural Cooperative. Kim Tien was known as a successful businessman and also frequently participated in charitable activities in the area. Furthermore, the defendant Tien claimed to be a journalist, exploiting his membership card and letters of introduction from various magazines to assert his connections and ability to influence law enforcement agencies.

Accordingly, vehicle owners had to pay Tien a sum of money to have their company's logo affixed to their vehicles. When driving on the road, if the vehicle owners were stopped, Tien would intervene to have the offenses overlooked or mitigated for the drivers.

According to the case file, from October 2023 to January 2024, Nguyen Kim Tien received a total of 1.304 billion VND from four vehicle owners. Specifically, she 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. At the trial, the defendant admitted that she had spent all of the money on personal expenses.

At the trial, the representative of the Procuratorate maintained the indictment against the defendant Tien for the crime of "Abusing influence over persons holding positions of power to gain illicit profits." Therefore, the Procuratorate proposed a sentence of 36 to 42 months imprisonment for the defendant.

During the investigation, the defendant confessed honestly. Furthermore, during her time living in the local area, Kim Tien had many achievements and received commendations for her contributions, which were considered mitigating circumstances. It is known that immediately after her arrest, the defendant mobilized her family to compensate 500 million VND.

Given the opportunity to speak his final words, defendant Tien also stated that, due to his lack of understanding of the charges, he hoped the court would consider his achievements and contributions and impose the lightest possible sentence so that he could return to contribute to society as soon as possible.

The court decided to sentence Nguyen Kim Tien to 39 months in prison for the aforementioned crime. Additionally, it ordered the confiscation of 804 million VND to be paid into the state budget.