To Anh Dung (L), Deputy Foreign Minister, and Nguyen Quang Linh, former assistant to the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister, are among the prosecuted persons. (Source: VNA) The indictment was issued by theSupreme People’s Procuracy.
Among the 54 suspects, 21 werecharged with “taking bribes” under Article 354 of the Penal Code, includingNguyen Quang Linh, former assistant to the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister;Nguyen Thanh Hai, head of the Government Office’s Department for InternationalRelations; and Nguyen Tien Thanh and Nguyen Mai Anh, specialists at thedepartment.
The ones at the Foreign Ministryfacing this charge comprise To Anh Dung, Deputy Minister; Nguyen Thi Huong Lan,Director of the Consular Department; Do Hoang Tung, Deputy Director of the department;Le Tuan Anh, Chief of the department’s Office; Luu Tuan Dung, deputy head ofthe department’s division for citizen protection; Vu Hong Nam, formerVietnamese Ambassador to Japan; Nguyen Hong Ha, former Vietnamese ConsulGeneral in Osaka, Japan; Ly Tien Hung, former cadre of the Vietnamese Embassyin Russia; and Vu Ngoc Minh, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Angola.
Others also accused of “taking bribes”include Pham Trung Kien, specialist at the Health Ministry’s Department forMedical Equipment and Facilities; Ngo Quang Tuan, specialist at the TransportMinistry’s Department of International Cooperation; Vu Hong Quang, deputy headof the air transport division of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam; TranVan Du, Vu Anh Tuan, and Vu Sy Cuong, former cadres at the ImmigrationDepartment of the Ministry of Public Security; Tran Van Tan, former ViceChairman of the Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee; and Chu Xuan Dung,former Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee.
Meanwhile, four were charged with “abusingpositions or power while performing duties” under Article 356 of the Penal Code,namely Tran Viet Thai, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia; along with NguyenLe Ngoc Anh, Nguyen Hoang Linh, and Dang Minh Phuong, former cadres of theVietnamese Embassy in Malaysia.
The Supreme People’s Procuracy also prosecuted 23 for “offering bribes”, fourfor “brokering bribery”, one for “swindling to appropriate assets” and “offeringbribes”, and another for “swindling to appropriate assets”.
According to the indictment, fromApril 2020, the Government allowed flights to be conducted to repatriate citizensfrom COVID-19-hit countries, with passengers only having to pay for flighttickets while quarantine after arrival was free of charge. After that, “combo flights” wereoperated with passengers voluntarily paying for all costs.
Businesses which wanted to conduct “comboflights” had to ask for permission from the People’s Committees of theprovinces and cities where repatriated citizens would be quarantined. Their dossierswere later sent to the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department, which wouldcollect opinions of the working group of the ministries of foreign affairs,public security, health, transport, and national defence.
From early 2020 to mid-2021, authoritieslicensed and organised more than 1,000 flights to bring home over 200,000 citizensfrom 62 countries and territories. The Foreign Ministry alone proposed theGovernment approve 772 flights, including 400 repatriation flights and 372 “comboflights”.
The investigation agency found that the suspects at the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security and a secretary of a deputy health minister asked businesses to pay 50 - 230 million VND (2,100 - 9,800 USD) for the procedures they handled for each flight. In order to have money to pay them, 20 businesses with over 100 legal entities had to raiseflight ticket prices, “invent” many expenses to charge the passengers wantingto return to Vietnam amid the pandemic.
The indictment said 21 persons fromthe ministries of foreign affairs, public security, health, and transport,along with the two former vice chairmen of the Hanoi and Quang Nam People’s Committeesreceived bribes totaling over 170 billion VND.
Aside from the suspects offering andaccepting bribes to conduct repatriation flights, the procuracy also found thatsome colluded with each other to help a business during the investigationprocess.
Accordingly, former Major GeneralNguyen Anh Tuan, former Deputy Director of the Hanoi Public SecurityDepartment, received 2.65 million USD to help Le Hong Son, General Director ofthe Bluesky company, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang, Deputy General Director of thiscompany escape investigation.
Tuan confessed that he kept 400,000 USD for himself and gave the remaining 2.25 millionUSD to Hoang Van Hung, former head of the investigation division of theInvestment Security Department at the Ministry of Public Security./.
VNA
