'Rescue flight' case: 4 defendants sentenced to life in prison
Defendant Pham Trung Kien (former Secretary of the Deputy Minister of Health) received bribes 253 times, totaling more than 42.6 billion VND, and was sentenced to life in prison. Three other defendants were also sentenced to life in prison: Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, Vu Anh Tuan, and Hoang Van Hung.
After three weeks of trial and deliberation, on the afternoon of July 28, the Hanoi People's Court of First Instance, chaired by Judge Vu Quang Huy, issued a verdict against 54 defendants in the "rescue flight" case, prosecuted for the crimes of "Giving bribes", "Receiving bribes", "Brokering bribes", "Abusing positions and powers while performing official duties" and "Fraudulent appropriation of property" occurring at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and several provinces and cities.
However, before the Trial Council began its work, defendant Chu Xuan Dung (former Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee) raised his hand to speak, but the presiding judge did not agree, saying: The Trial Council had already deliberated, and the defendants had already had their final say before the verdict was announced. Today is the verdict announcement, if defendant Chu Xuan Dung has any comments, he will send a written document to the prosecution agencies for consideration.
Before announcing the verdict, the Trial Panel announced the list of witnesses and people with related rights and obligations who were summoned to the trial. Among those named, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen was absent.
The jury.
After summarizing the proceedings in court, the Trial Panel determined that there were no complaints about the procedural decisions in the case, all of which were in accordance with regulations. Regarding the content, in the case, 25 defendants were determined to have received bribes of nearly 167 billion VND; abused their positions and powers to cause losses of over 10 billion VND. In addition, 23 individuals representing enterprises gave bribes totaling over 226 billion VND; 4 individuals brokered bribes totaling over 74 billion VND and fraudulently appropriated assets of 24.5 billion VND.
According to the Trial Panel, some defendants said that they did not demand or harass businesses when carrying out procedures to license “rescue flights”, they only received money as a thank you, not bribes. Article 354 of the Penal Code and the 2018 Law on Anti-Corruption stipulates that one cannot accept gifts related to the work one handles, or within the scope of one’s unit.
At the time of flight licensing, many businesses faced difficulties, were rejected or did not respond. Some businesses received approval a day in advance and suffered losses. Therefore, many businesses contacted the defendants to ask for help, asking for more “rescue flights”, more passengers and early licensing.
The defendants at trial.
Since then, defendant Pham Trung Kien (former Secretary of the Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen) and a number of other defendants have harassed representatives of businesses; other defendants did not ask for fees but promised to support familiar businesses and then received money as a thank you. This amount was based on the number of flights, number of passengers, and balance of business interests, sometimes reaching billions of VND. The receipt of money occurred many times with the amount exceeding hundreds of times the normal income.
During the trial, the defendants from the enterprise stated that if they did not give money, they would not be given favorable conditions; giving money was to share benefits and hope to continue to be granted flight licenses. The trial panel affirmed that the defendants' receiving of money as a "thank you" was actually "accepting bribes", so this act constituted a crime.
There are two ways to accept bribes: bargaining, forcing businesses to pay money, or making things difficult by being ambiguous and not fulfilling their responsibilities, forcing businesses to pay money to get flight permits. Some defendants colluded and shared bribe money, so they need to be severely punished.
Defendant Hoang Van Hung was sentenced to life in prison.
The group of defendants who received bribes all held positions of authority, but took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and their positions to harass and create a mechanism to force businesses to pay bribes.
Regarding the group of defendants who committed the crime of bribery, the Trial Panel determined that they gave money to many defendants with positions and powers in the hope of being facilitated. Some businesses gave money many times, in particularly large amounts, and then they were given preferential treatment to organize more flights in the desired markets.
Defendant Nguyen Thi Huong Lan was sentenced to life in prison.
“Giving money to defendants in positions of authority to benefit their businesses is bribery. The defense’s argument that this is a thank-you payment according to Vietnamese culture is unacceptable,” the presiding judge stated.
Regarding the group of defendants who committed the crime of bribery brokerage, including defendant Nguyen Anh Tuan (former Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police), the Trial Panel determined that they took advantage of their familiarity with individuals in authority to help a number of businesses and individuals pay money to obtain flight permits, or use money to “fix the case”. Defendant Nguyen Anh Tuan was also determined to have brokered a particularly large bribe (2.8 million USD), so a strict penalty should be applied for deterrence, education and general prevention.
Defendant Pham Trung Kien was sentenced to life in prison.
Regarding the group of defendants who are former officials and Ambassadors at several Embassies, including defendant Tran Viet Thai (former Ambassador to Malaysia), the Trial Panel determined that they were people with positions, powers, and responsibilities in performing public duties, but while performing their duties, they took advantage of and collected money from people who had completed their prison terms beyond the prescribed limit. Therefore, they committed the crime of abusing their positions and powers while performing public duties.
Regarding defendant Hoang Van Hung (former Head of the Investigation Security Agency), the Trial Panel determined that defendant Hung was a senior investigator assigned to investigate the "rescue flight" case, but the defendant had met defendant Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang (former Deputy General Director of Blue Sky Company) many times at the house of defendant Nguyen Anh Tuan (former Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police).
At the meetings, defendant Hung instructed defendant Hang and through Hang instructed defendant Le Hong Son (General Director of Blue Sky Company) to testify. Therefore, defendant Hang and defendant Son paid money to ask defendant Tuan to give to defendant Hung to "fix the case".
Defendant To Anh Dung 16 years in prison.
During the investigation and at the trial, defendant Tuan stated that he had transferred the 2.2 million USD he received from Hang so that Hung could take care of Hang and Son so that they would not be prosecuted. Although defendant Hung denied receiving any money from defendant Tuan, defendant Hung confirmed that he had met defendant Hang many times and had received a briefcase from defendant Tuan at the agency's headquarters.
Although defendant Hung denied receiving money, the Trial Panel assessed that defendant Hung's testimony was inconsistent and dishonest, so there was no basis for acceptance. Defendant Hung took advantage of his position as Head of the Security Investigation Agency to provide some information to defendant Tuan and defendant Hang. After that, defendant Hung also asked defendant Hang to pay money to the Procuracy, the professional department... to "fix the case". Through defendant Tuan, defendant Hung received money from defendant Hang, so he committed the crime of fraud and property appropriation (the amount of 800,000 USD). Therefore, defendant Hung's claim of innocence has no basis for acceptance.
Defendant Chu Xuan Dung 3 years in prison.
In the case, defendant Pham Trung Kien (former Secretary of Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen) received bribes 253 times, totaling more than 42.6 billion VND. The Trial Panel found that the death penalty proposed by the representative of the Procuracy for defendant Kien was appropriate.
However, during the trial, defendant Kien changed his testimony, confessed honestly, repented, and influenced his family to compensate for the consequences of a total of more than 42 billion VND. In addition, the defendant's biological father and father-in-law are war invalids... so the Trial Panel found it unnecessary to permanently remove defendant Kien from social life, but only needed to apply a prison sentence to encourage criminals to surrender.
The trial panel affirmed that this was an especially serious case, the defendants' actions were dangerous to social life, caused public discontent, and created bad public opinion, so it was necessary to apply strict punishment to the defendants to ensure education and general crime prevention.
Defendant Tran Van Tan 6 years in prison.
After analyzing and evaluating the criminal behavior of each defendant, as well as applying aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the Trial Panel sentenced:
Pham Trung Kien (former Secretary of the Deputy Minister of Health) received a bribe of 42.6 billion VND and was sentenced to life in prison (the Procuracy proposed the death penalty).
Vu Anh Tuan (former Deputy Head of the General Staff, Immigration Department) received a bribe of more than 27 billion VND, life imprisonment (the Procuracy proposed 19-20 years in prison).
Nguyen Thi Huong Lan (former Director of the Consular Department - Ministry of Foreign Affairs) received a bribe of more than 25 billion VND, life imprisonment (the Procuracy proposed 18 - 19 years in prison).
To Anh Dung (former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs) received a bribe of 21.5 billion VND, 16 years in prison (the Procuracy proposed 12 - 13 years in prison).
Do Hoang Tung (former Deputy Director of the Consular Department - Ministry of Foreign Affairs) received a bribe of more than 12 billion VND, 12 years in prison (the Procuracy proposed 9 - 10 years in prison).
Vu Sy Cuong (former officer of the General Staff Department, Immigration Department) received a bribe of more than 9 billion VND, 9 years in prison.
Tran Van Du (former Deputy Director of the Immigration Department) received a bribe of 7.6 billion VND, 7 years in prison.
Tran Van Tan (former Vice Chairman of Quang Nam Provincial People's Committee) received a bribe of 5 billion VND and was sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Nguyen Quang Linh (former Assistant to Deputy Prime Minister) received bribes of more than 4 billion VND, 7 years in prison.
Nguyen Tien Than (former Specialist of the Department of International Relations, Government Office) received a bribe of more than 3.6 billion VND, 5 years in prison.
Nguyen Thanh Hai (former Director of the Department of International Relations, Government Office) received a bribe of more than 3.6 billion VND, 6 years in prison.
Nguyen Mai Anh (former specialist of the Department of International Relations, Government Office) received a bribe of 3 billion VND, 6 years in prison.
Nguyen Hong Ha (former Consul General of Vietnam in Osaka, Japan) received a bribe of more than 2 billion VND, 4 years in prison.
Chu Xuan Dung (former Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee) received bribes of more than 2 billion VND, 3 years in prison.
Vu Hong Quang (former Deputy Head of the Air Transport Department, Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Ministry of Transport) received a bribe of nearly 2 billion VND, 4 years in prison.
Vu Hong Nam (former Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan) received bribes of more than 1.8 billion VND, 30 months in prison.
Le Tuan Anh (former Chief of Office of the Consular Department - Ministry of Foreign Affairs) received a bribe of nearly 1.8 billion VND, 42 months in prison.
Ngo Quang Tuan (former specialist of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Transport) received a bribe of more than 1.8 billion VND, 4 years in prison.
Hoang Van Hung (former Head of Department 5, Department of Security Investigation) defrauded and appropriated 800,000 USD, life imprisonment (the Procuracy proposed 19 - 20 years in prison).
Tran Minh Tuan (Director of Thai Hoa Construction Joint Stock Company) defrauded and appropriated nearly 5.7 billion VND in assets and gave bribes of nearly 800 million VND, 18 years in prison.
Vu Ngoc Minh (former Vietnamese Ambassador to Angola) received a bribe of 864 million VND, 30 months in prison.
Luu Tuan Dung (former Deputy Head of Citizen Protection Department, Consular Department - Ministry of Foreign Affairs) received bribes of more than 500 million VND, 18 months in prison.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang (Deputy General Director of Blue Sky Company) and Le Hong Son gave bribes of more than 100 billion VND, 11 years in prison.
Le Hong Son (General Director of Blue Sky Company) and Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang gave bribes of more than 100 billion VND, 10 years in prison.
Hoang Dieu Mo (General Director of An Binh Company) bribed more than 34 billion VND, 7 years in prison.
Nguyen Tien Manh (Deputy Director of Viet Travel Company) bribed nearly 28 billion VND, 7 years in prison.
Vu Thuy Duong (Director of Viet Travel Company) gave bribes of more than 24 billion VND, 36 months suspended sentence.
Hoang Anh Kiem (in Hanoi) bribed more than 22.8 billion VND, 6 years in prison.
Nguyen Thi Tuong Vy (Director of ATA Vietnam Company) bribed nearly 12 billion VND, 4 years in prison.
Vo Thi Hong (Director of Minh Ngoc Company) gave a bribe of nearly 11 billion VND, 4 years in prison (combined with the 30-month prison sentence in another case equals 6 years and 6 months in prison).
Le Van Nghia (Director of Nhat Minh Company) bribed more than 9.5 billion VND, 3 years in prison.
Tran Thi Mai Xa (Director of MasterLife Company) bribed more than 8 billion VND, 3 years in prison.
Le Thi Ngoc Anh (former official of the Party Central Committee's Foreign Affairs Commission) bribed more than 7.6 billion VND, sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Nguyen Thi Hien (in Hanoi) bribed 4.1 billion VND, 30 months in prison.
Dao Minh Duong (Director of Vijasun Joint Stock Company) gave bribes of more than 3.5 billion VND, 36 months suspended sentence.
Nguyen Thi Dung Hanh (Director of G 19 Vietnam Company Limited) bribed more than 3 billion VND, 30 months in prison.
Phan Thi Mai (Director of Sao Ha Noi International Joint Stock Company) gave bribes of more than 2.3 billion VND, 30 months suspended sentence.
Vu Minh Thang (Director of Thuan An Investment and Trading Company) gave bribes of more than 2 billion VND, 30 months suspended sentence.
Nguyen The Dung (Director of Sang Trong Company) gave bribes of more than 1.6 billion VND, 24 months suspended sentence.
Tran Hong Ha (Director of Sao Viet International Company) bribed more than 1.6 billion VND, 24 months in prison.
Pham Bich Hang (Deputy Director of International Travel Company) bribed nearly 1.2 billion VND, 20 months in prison.
Tran Viet Thai (former Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia) abused his position and power while performing official duties, 4 years in prison.
Nguyen Le Ngoc Anh (former Second Secretary, Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia) took advantage of his position and power while performing official duties, 30 months in prison.
Nguyen Hoang Linh (former Second Secretary, Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia) took advantage of his position and power while performing official duties, 30 months in prison.
Dang Minh Phuong (former officer of the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia) took advantage of his position and power while performing official duties, 18 months in prison.
Nguyen Anh Tuan (former Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police) brokered bribes of more than 61.6 billion VND, 5 years in prison, fined 50 million VND.
Tran Quoc Tuan (Director of Trade Promotion Joint Stock Company) and Vietnam Tourism, brokered bribes of more than 7.4 billion VND, 3 years in prison.
Bui Huy Hoang (former specialist of the Department of Infectious Disease Control, Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health) brokered a bribe of more than 3.3 billion VND, 30 months in prison, fined 50 million VND.
Pham Thi Kim Ngan (former officer of the Administrative Department, Government Inspectorate Magazine) brokered a bribe of nearly 2 billion VND, 15 months in prison.
Ly Tien Hung (former First Secretary, Embassy of Vietnam in the Russian Federation) received a bribe of more than 400 million VND, 30 months in prison.
Tran Tien (Director of Phi Company) gave bribes of more than 600 million VND, 18 months suspended sentence.
Pham Ba Son (employee of Thai Hoa Construction Joint Stock Company) gave a bribe of 520 million VND, 18 months suspended sentence.
Cao Duc Hiep (Director of Railway Union Company) gave bribes of more than 485 million VND, from 18 to 20 months in prison.
Dao Thi Chung Thuy (in Hanoi) gave bribes of more than 437 million VND, 15 months suspended sentence.
In addition to the prison sentence, 21 defendants in the bribery group were each fined 100 million VND.
