Trial begins for 2 former Directors of Vehicle Registration and 252 defendants.
From the department and division leaders down to the vehicle inspection centers, they all agreed and directed inspectors to accept money from the centers and vehicle owners to overlook violations.
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court today opened the trial of 254 defendants related to irregularities that occurred at...Vehicle Registration DepartmentVietnam and vehicle inspection centers in Ho Chi Minh City, Long An, Ben Tre, and Soc Trang.
The trial is scheduled to last three months (from July 18th to October 18th), presided over by Judge Huynh Van Truc, Deputy Chief Judge of the Criminal Court of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court. In addition, the panel of judges includes Judge Tran Minh Chau and three people's assessors.
The prosecutors representing the Procuracy at the trial were prosecutors Tran Thi Lien, Nguyen Vu Mai Diem, Le Truong Ha Linh, and Pham Van Hien.
Due to the large number of defendants, the trial will be held simultaneously at two locations: the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court headquarters and the auditorium of Chi Hoa Detention Center (T30 Cu Chi).
Among the 254 defendants are two former Directors of the Vietnam Register: Mr. Tran Ky Hinh is being tried for bribery and abuse of power while performing official duties; Mr. Dang Viet Ha is being tried for bribery.
The remaining defendants were tried for the following crimes: Giving bribes; Receiving bribes; Brokering bribes; Falsification in official duties; Producing, buying, selling, exchanging, or giving away software for illegal purposes; Illegally accessing the computer networks, telecommunication networks, or electronic devices of others; Forging documents of agencies or organizations; Using forged documents of agencies or organizations; Fraudulent appropriation of property; Abusing official position and authority while performing official duties; Embezzlement of property.
According to the prosecution's allegations, despite being officials of state management agencies in the field of vehicle quality inspection, technical safety, labor safety, and environmental protection, the leaders of the department and divisions colluded with and directed inspectors at inspection centers to accept money from the centers and vehicle owners to overlook violations.
By turning a blind eye to his subordinates' actions, defendant Tran Ky Hinh received bribes totaling over 7.1 billion VND from his subordinates. After defendant Hinh retired, defendant Dang Viet Ha, who took over, also received bribes totaling over 8.5 billion VND in just over a year in office.
By October 2022, when the police discovered and dealt with violations by vehicle inspection units, fearing exposure, defendant Dang Viet Ha returned 5 billion VND to Tran Anh Quan (then Acting Head of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Department, Vietnam Registering Agency).
Next, the defendant Ha asked Lai Thai Phong (former Deputy Chief of the Office of the Vietnam Registering and Inspection Department) to "gather information" about what violations the police were handling at the inspection centers. Phong said he would ask Nguyen Van Chung (who had many connections with police agencies) to help investigate.
Later, Ha asked Quan to return the 5 billion VND that had been previously given back, and then transferred this money to Phong to give to Chung. However, Chung was unable to gather information to help and instead embezzled the money.
After her arrest, defendant Dang Viet Ha filed a complaint against Phong and Chung.
