Hanoi (VNA) – The People’s Court of Hanoi has decided to open thefirst-instance trial on January 28 for two former Deputy Ministers of PublicSecurity who were prosecuted with the charge of “showing irresponsibility,causing serious consequences” in line with Article 285 of the 1999 CriminalCode.
Also brought to the courttogether with Bui Van Thanh and Tran Viet Tan are Phan Van Anh Vu (alias VuNhom), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bac Nam 79 Construction JSC;Nguyen Huu Bach, former Colonel and deputy department chief of the ministry;and Phan Huu Tuan, former Lt. General and deputy general department director ofthe ministry. They all were prosecuted for “abusing position and power whileperforming duties” in line with Article 356 of the 2015 Criminal Code.
Nine lawyers will defendthe legitimate rights and interests of the accused at the three-day trial.
This is an extremelyserious corruption case that caused public concern involving high-rankingofficers of the Ministry of Public Security, causing huge losses to the Statebudget.
According to theindictment, Vu Nhom abused his power, along with support of Bach and Tuan, to hire,purchase and transfer houses without auctions and not in line with Stateregulations. He then made them his own properties or his relatives’, ortransferred them under the ownership of other people to earn illegal profits,causing losses totaling more than 1,159 billion VND (50 million USD) to theState budget.
Both Bach and Tuancaused losses totaling more than 1,134 billion VND (48.9 million USD) in total.
Thanh was prosecutedfor lacking responsibilities in supervising housing prices and allowing Vu tocommit illegal transfers, causing a loss of over 223 billion VND (9.6 millionUSD); while Tan showed irresponsibility in management that created conditionsfor Vu to abuse his position and power and caused losses of over 155 billionVND (6.7 million USD).
In December last year,the ministry started criminal proceedings against Thanh and Tan. Earlier, Thanhhad been dismissed from his post as Deputy Minister of Public Security, and Tanstripped of his title as former Deputy Minister of Public Security in the2011-2016 tenure.-VNA
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