Trial of case of collusion with traffic police to sell 'king car' logos for tens of billions of dong

According to the People's Court, the defendants confessed honestly and returned part or all of the illegal profits, so a reduced sentence is needed.

Regarding the testimony of defendants Van and Thoi about 78 traffic police and traffic inspectors receiving money from the defendants to ignore vehicles with logos and symbols (king car logo), The panel of judges determined that apart from the defendants' statements, there was no evidence to prove it, so there was no basis to prosecute the traffic police and traffic inspectors.

The panel of judges also accepted the request of the People's Procuracy, recommending that the traffic police and traffic inspectors in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai need to take measures to inspect and correct loopholes to avoid situations similar to the "king" car logo case from happening in the future.

Therefore, after consideration, the panel decided to sentence defendant Chan to 7 years in prison for the crime of "Bribery Brokerage"; defendant Nguyen Van Thoi to 13 years; Le Thi Cam Van to 3 years and 6 months; and defendant Tran Quoc Thai to 9 years in prison; the remaining defendants must also receive 1 year, 8 months, and 25 days in prison (equal to the time in detention) for the crime of "Bribery".

Defendant Nguyen Canh Chan.

The defendants were ordered to return all the money given and brokered in bribes, as well as the money they illegally profited, to the state budget.

This is a lower sentence than the first instance trial. Accordingly, at the first instance trial, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced defendant Chan to 8 years in prison, Thoi to 14 years, Thai to 10 years, Van to 9 years in prison; The defendants involved in the case also received sentences ranging from 1 year and 6 months to 4 years in prison.

According to the prosecution, during the course of his truck business, Thoi's trucks were often fined for overloading, so he colluded with the traffic police to pay money and stick logos on the heads of overloaded trucks so that some traffic police officers on duty would recognize them and not impose fines. Thoi invited Thai to join him in selling the "king's truck" logo.

Thoi asked Chan to help the traffic police not to fine the overloaded vehicles with Thoi's logo. Chan agreed and told a captain of the Traffic Police Department of Dong Nai Province about Thoi's request and he agreed.

In April 2015, the Captain of Team 1 of the Traffic Police Department of Dong Nai Province died of illness. Chan continued to ask a Deputy Chief of the Traffic Police Department of Dong Nai Province for help and was approved. After that, Thoi transferred 600 million VND to Chan for bribery. Chan gave the Deputy Chief of the Traffic Police Department 300 million VND and kept 300 million VND. According to the investigation results, Chan acted as an intermediary for Thoi to give a bribe of 1.2 billion VND.

The defendants in court.

After colluding with some corrupt policemen, Thoi and Thai printed and sold logos to car owners and drivers to stick on the front of their cars as symbols.

The "king car" logo trading ring led by Thoi, which protected overloaded vehicles, lasted for more than a year, from January 2014 to August 2015, selling 15,000 vehicles, illegally earning nearly 23 billion VND.

Similarly, Le Thi Cam Van and her accomplices also printed logos for car owners to stick on their windshields. In just 3 months from May to August 2015, Van and her accomplices sold the logos and earned nearly 8 billion VND.