Sentenced former Deputy General Director of Vietnam Railways to 7 years and 6 months in prison

After two days of trial, the Hanoi People's Court announced the verdict for six defendants, former officials of the Vietnam Railway Project Management Board, in the case of receiving 11 billion VND from the Japanese contractor JTC.

The defendants heard the verdict.

Judge Truong Viet Toan, Deputy Chief Justice of the Criminal Court of Hanoi City - presiding judge of the trial, on behalf of the trial panel (HDXX) announced the verdict for the 6 defendants on trial in the case.

According to the People's Court, at court the defendants confessed to the crimes as charged in the indictment, admitting to receiving 11 billion VND from the Japanese contractor JTC during the process...

Based on the documents in the file examined and evaluated in court, on the basis of objective and comprehensive consideration of the statements of the defendants, related persons, and the opinions of the prosecutor, the Panel of Judges determined the level of violations of each defendant as follows:

Defendant Pham Hai Bang (former deputy director of the Railway Project Management Unit - RPMU under Vietnam Railways Corporation) admitted in court that he had spent 4.8 billion VND out of the 11 billion VND received from JTC.

This money was used by the defendants for meetings, vacations, contract signing ceremonies, employee bonuses, union and youth activities...

Defendant Nguyen Nam Thai (former head of project implementation department 3 - RPMU) stated that he spent 3.4 billion VND from the contractor JTC's money. Thai has recovered 600 million VND to request the court to consider.

Nguyen Van Hieu (former director of RPMU) knew that the spending of the project team's money was wrong, but Hieu did not take any action to prevent it.

The defendants' statements are consistent with the statements of the Japanese contractor in the file and with other evidence. Thus, there is sufficient basis to affirm that Pham Hai Bang and his accomplices had agreed with the contractor JTC to receive 11 billion VND in support money.

The defendants' actions in agreeing with contractors to pay money outside the contract have affected the country's image and the Vietnam-Japan relationship in borrowing ODA capital. Currently, Japan has stopped the activities of contractor JTC, so the project has been stalled.

JTC's actions have been prosecuted by Japan for unfair competition.

According to the court, the defendants' actions were to receive bribes from Japanese contractors, but due to difficulties in mutual legal assistance between Vietnam and Japan, the defendants were not prosecuted for bribery but only for abuse of power. This is appropriate.

The defendants harassed JTC into giving them money. The defendants did not strictly control the data provided by the consulting unit. Up to now, only 47% of the contract has been completed, but the defendants still disbursed money to the Japanese contractor.

According to the panel of judges, the defendants harassed JTC into giving them money. When the contract was only about 47% complete, the defendants still disbursed the money to the Japanese contractor.

According to the Law on Accounting and Statistics, all revenues and expenditures must be kept in books, but the defendants left them out of the books, without statistics, without transparency, without documents for tracking. This is an act of personal gain and group interests.

The defendants’ actions have had a significant impact on Vietnam-Japan relations. In fact, when the case was discovered, Japan temporarily suspended ODA-funded railway projects. The defendants’ actions have had a serious impact on the country’s reputation, whether directly or indirectly.

Considering the nature and severity of each defendant’s criminal acts, the panel of judges determined that defendant Pham Hai Bang repeatedly suggested, called, and emailed the Japanese side to request money and directly received the money. Bang was the ringleader and played a key role in this case and must receive the highest penalty.

Defendant Pham Quang Duy harassed JTC to ask for money. Duy received the money 3 times, personally benefiting 34 million VND. The defendant exchanged the Yen into Vietnamese currency to benefit, so a severe punishment is needed.

Nguyen Nam Thai is the person who sent the email to the Japanese side requesting the money transfer. The defendant was given 3.4 billion VND. He was an active accomplice, so he needs to be given a higher punishment than defendant Bang.

Defendant Tran Quoc Dong was the director of RPMU but did not prevent Bang and Thai's violations and let Bang and Thai receive the money. At the same time, the defendant signed to disburse 11 million yen when the project was not yet completed.

Nguyen Van Hieu was the director of RPMU for the longest time. He should have stopped the other defendants from reporting the money receipt, but he let Bang and Thai receive the money during the 3 years he was the director of RPMU.

In fact, during these 3 years, RPMU disbursed the most to contractors even though the project was not on schedule as per the contract.

Defendant Tran Van Luc, although he only held the position of RPMU director for 20 days, did not request to stop receiving money and instead allowed officials to receive and spend the money, contrary to regulations. Luc was also given 100 million VND by Bang during Tet.

The court also considered some mitigating circumstances for the defendants during sentencing, such as good character, repentance, all of whom had partially remedied the consequences, and had many achievements in their work.

The People's Court sentenced 6 defendants for the crime of abusing their positions and powers while performing official duties, specifically:

- Pham Hai Bang - former deputy director of RPMU: 12 years in prison; Nguyen Nam Thai - former head of project implementation department 3, RPMU: 11 years in prison; Tran Van Luc - former director of RPMU: 5 years and 6 months in prison; Tran Quoc Dong - former director of RPMU, former deputy general director of Vietnam Railways Corporation: 7 years and 6 months in prison; Nguyen Van Hieu - former director of RPMU: 7 years and 6 months in prison; Pham Quang Duy - former deputy director of RPMU: 8 years and 6 months in prison

In addition, the court also sentenced each defendant to an additional fine of 30 million VND and banned the defendants from holding positions for 3 years from the date of completion of the sentence.

The court also ordered the recovery of 11 billion VND that the defendants received from JTC to be added to the state budget, and seized many of the defendants' assets to ensure execution of the judgment.

As for the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Railway Authority, the court summoned these two agencies to court but they were absent.

Proposal to review the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and the General Department of Railways

Through documents, it can be seen that during the project implementation, Vietnam Railways signed and adjusted contracts with contractor JTC, which had a basis in management and supervision.

The signing of the contract by the governing body, the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Railway Authority, had the basis for the defendants to take advantage of this loophole to commit crimes.

Therefore, the court recommends that the competent state agency investigate and handle any violations by individuals according to the provisions of law.

According to tuoitre.vn