Details of the sentences for the defendants in the second phase of the rescue flight

On the afternoon of December 27, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced 17 defendants in the "Rescue Flight" case phase 2 for the crimes of accepting bribes, giving bribes, abusing positions and powers while performing official duties, and concealing crimes.

Defendant Tran Tung (born in 1978, former Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province) was sentenced to 7 years in prison for accepting bribes and 5 years in prison for abusing his position and power while performing official duties.

The total sentence for defendant Tran Tung is 12 years in prison.

Five defendants: Tran Thi Quyen (born in 1986, Director of Sen Vang Dat Viet Company), Le Thi Phuong (born in 1969, former specialist of the Department of Science, Education, Culture and Society, Office of the People's Committee of Hai Duong province), Nguyen Van Van (born in 1965, former Deputy Director of the Department of Health of Quang Nam province), Le Ngoc Tuong (born in 1979, former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam province) were all sentenced to 2 years in prison; Nguyen Manh Truong (born in 1980, former specialist of the Department of Air Transport, Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Ministry of Transport) was sentenced to 18 months in prison but given a suspended sentence for the same crime of accepting bribes.

10 defendants include:

-Vu Hong Quang(born in 1977, former Deputy Head of the Department of Aviation Transport, Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Ministry of Transport) was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison. Combined with the 4-year prison sentence of the previous sentence announced in July 2023 by the Hanoi People's Court, the total sentence for defendant Quang is 7 years and 6 months in prison;

-Tran Thanh Nha(born in 1991, residing in Ward 3, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City),Dang Nhat Duc(born in 1975, Director of Top Agent Japan Co., Ltd.) were both sentenced to 3 years in prison;

-Vu Hoang Dung(born in 1987, residing in Xuan La ward, Tay Ho district, Hanoi),Nguyen Manh Cuong(born in 1977, Head of E-Commerce Department, Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company),Bui Dang Khoa(born in 1984, Director of World Travel LLC),Pham Quoc Thang(born in 1977, Director of PNR Company Limited),Truong Thi My Dung(born in 1972, Director of Anh Sao Thien Tourism Service Trading Company Limited) were both sentenced to 2 years in prison;

-Tran Thi Ngan(born in 1984, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ana Travel Trading and Service Company Limited) 18 months in prison but suspended sentence;

-Tran Minh Phung(born in 1970, Director of Gia Huy Construction, Tourism and Trading Services Company Limited) 12 months in prison but suspended for the same crime of bribery.

Defendant Nguyen Xuan Thong (born in 1975, former police officer) was sentenced to 12 months in prison but given a suspended sentence for concealing a criminal.

The first-instance judgment stated that when the COVID-19 epidemic broke out and became complicated, the Government directed the organization of flights to bring Vietnamese citizens from abroad back to the country to prevent the epidemic.

The Government assigned the Government Office and Working Groups of a number of ministries, branches, and localities to carry out the flight licensing process and quarantine policies.

Taking advantage of the Party and State's policies and assigned positions and powers, a number of individuals at the People's Committees of provinces and cities agreed to give and receive bribes, and violated their official duties to advise and propose approval of policies for businesses to bring citizens back to the country for medical quarantine in their localities.

The defendants directly or through intermediaries colluded and agreed with officials of the Ministry of Health to give and receive large bribes in order to have written approvals and reviews for citizens (individual passengers) to return on single flights.

In addition, there are defendants who took advantage of their positions to guide and incite related people to make false statements, conceal crimes, and obstruct the investigation and clarification of crimes by authorities.

The trial panel determined that defendant Tran Tung had taken advantage of his assigned position and authority as the focal point for synthesizing, advising, and proposing to the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province to allow citizens returning from Japan to be quarantined in Thai Nguyen. With the help of Tran Thi Quyen, through the signing of a full package contract for medical quarantine services for citizens returning from Japan to be quarantined in Thai Nguyen, Tran Tung had accepted bribes 3 times from Mr. Le Van Nghia (defendant in phase 1 of the case, Director of Nhat Minh Tourism and Catering Services Joint Stock Company) with a total amount of more than 4.4 billion VND.

In addition, Tung also took advantage of his position and power while performing official duties, acting against his official duties to advise and propose to the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province to carry out 7 flights of Ms. Bui Thi Kim Phung (representative of Fujitravell Company, Japan), benefiting from more than 3.2 billion VND...

The Court determined that the defendants' actions were particularly serious, infringing on the proper functioning of State agencies, infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, negatively affecting social order, and requiring the defendants to be isolated for a long period of time for warning, education, and general prevention.

The defendants committed the acts of receiving and giving bribes independently, only defendant Quyen played a criminal role in assisting defendant Tran Tung.

In the group of defendants who gave bribes, defendant Quang gave many times with large amounts of money, so he must receive a higher penalty than the other defendants corresponding to the amount of money that defendant Quang gave as bribes.

In addition, the Trial Panel also considered the mitigating circumstances of the defendants such as: Honest confession, repentance, voluntary compensation, remedy of consequences, positive attitude of cooperation with the investigation agency to quickly clarify the case, the defendants' personal background has no criminal record, some defendants have good achievements in work... and decided to partially reduce the sentence for the defendants.