Binh Thuan (VNA) - The People’s Court of the south centralprovince of Binh Thuan on December 21 handed out prison sentences to 12defendants, including two customs officials, involved in a multi-trillion VNDfuel smuggling case, the biggest unveiled so far in Vietnam.
Six of the defendants previously workedfor Duong Dong Hoa Phu Co Ltd in Hoa Phu commune, Tuy Phong district, whichimported large volumes of fuel without declaring the correct amount to customs.
Nguyen Duc Manh, chairman anddirector-general of the company, and Nguyen Thanh Son, its former deputydirector-general, received the longest sentences of 10 years and 8 yearsrespectively on smuggling and bribery charges.
Vu Van Bang, Nguyen Dang Duy andNguyen Duc Quang from the company’s business department each receivedfive, four and a half, and four years in prison for smuggling. Nguyen Tuan Anh,an employee, was given two years on probation for giving bribes.
Two customs officials from Binh Thuan, DinhHuu Thuy and Le Van Vinh, got four and three years behind bars for takingbribes from the company.
According to the indictment, on January19, 2016, an inspection group examined the BTS Christina – a ship owned by theSingapore-based company BTS Tankers and captained by a Filipino citizen whileit was offloading gasoline to a fuel tanker operated by Duong Dong Hoa PhuCo Ltd.
Inspectors determined that the ship wascarrying 9,370 tonnes of RON 92 gasoline, but the company had declared just1,870 tonnes at customs.
The investigative unit of the Ministryof Public Security started criminal proceedings into the case, and found that DuongDong Hoa Phu had been smuggling gasoline from foreign companies into Vietnamfrom October 2015 to January 2016.
The company was found to have imported over 91 million litres of A92 gasoline and 77.57 million litres of dieseloil during the period, but only declared a small portion of these volumes (17.4 million and 14.84million litres, respectively). The value of the undeclared fuel reached 2 trillion VND (85.8million USD).
The Filipino captain in the case, Romel Pagenta Aleria, who signed receipts confirming the incorrect amount offuel onboard, was fined 500 million VND (21,460 USD) and deported forcross-border smuggling.
Two defendants from a local company,including its director-general, Dam Van Duong, were sentenced to jail for fouryears and three-and-a-half years for issuing false documents regarding thevolume of fuel.
Le Hai Duong, an employee of DongHung International Co Ltd, a local company that was BTS Tankers’ agency inVietnam, got two years for smuggling for preparing the necessary documentsto allow the BTS Christina to enter Vietnam and offload.-VNA