The court assessed that former Secretary Le Duc Tho received the largest bribe in the Xuyen Viet Oil case, but the violation was partly for the purpose of developing the local economy, so he was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
On November 29, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City announced the verdict against Mr. Le Duc Tho; former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai; Mai Thi Hong Hanh, Director and Chairwoman of the Board of Members of Xuyen Viet Oil Trading, Transport and Tourism Company Limited, and 12 defendants related to violations at Xuyen Viet Oil.
The court assessed the defendants’ criminal acts in the case as particularly serious. Defendant Mai Thi Hong Hanh directly directed many employees at Xuyen Viet Oil Company to give bribes when the company did not meet the conditions for petroleum business. The defendants’ acts not only violated the proper operation of agencies and organizations but also violated the country’s energy security.
For the defendants, former officials at Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee, Ministry of Industry and Trade... who received gifts from Mai Thi Hong Hanh to fail to fulfill their assigned duties and tasks, infringing on the correctness of public service activities and the interests of the State; eroding the people's trust.
The verdict determined that when Xuyen Viet Oil Company borrowed capital from Vietinbank and requested a credit limit and extension of the credit limit maintenance period, from 2019 to January 2020, defendant Le Duc Tho twice received bribes, totaling 600,000 USD (equivalent to 13.8 billion VND) from Ms. Hanh.
In addition, since 2021, he has been accused of abusing his position and authority as Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietinbank to influence the Director of the Ben Tre branch bank to give Xuyen Viet Oil Company favorable loans, with a credit limit of 400 billion VND, preferential interest rates and a loan collateral ratio of 40%. Hanh has given Mr. Tho many valuable assets.
In total, Mr. Tho accepted bribes and took advantage of his position and power to influence others to gain more than 33 billion VND.
According to the Trial Council, Mr. Tho was the person who received the most bribes in the case, so he needed to be severely punished. However, the violations that occurred during the time the defendant was the Secretary of Ben Tre were aimed at taking advantage of the relationship with Xuyen Viet Oil to develop the province's socio-economy, creating more jobs for the people... This behavior of the defendant came from the common interests of the locality. Currently, the defendant has returned 34 billion VND of the benefits, so when sentencing, the sentence was reduced somewhat.
The court then sentenced him to 15 years in prison for bribery; 13 years for abusing his position and power to influence others for personal gain; the total sentence was 28 years in prison. In addition, the defendant had to pay an additional fine of 100 million VND for each crime.
Regarding Mai Thi Hong Hanh, the Trial Panel determined that the defendant played the role of mastermind. The documents in the file and the results of the interrogation were sufficient to determine that Xuyen Viet Oil did not meet the conditions for being granted a license to import and export gasoline. From 2016 to 2022, Hanh sought to meet with specialized officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to ask for help. Hanh bribed 22 times to 8 individuals with a total amount of more than 31 billion VND.
In addition, during the management of Xuyen Viet Oil, defendant Hanh directed his deputy Nguyen Thi Nhu Phuong and employees to not set aside and manage the payment of the gasoline price stabilization fund, causing a loss of VND 219 billion. The defendant also directed employees to prepare a full report on VND 1,244 billion in environmental protection tax, but did not pay it and withdrew it for personal use, causing a loss.
"Defendant Hanh is the one who gave the directives to his subordinates, so he must take primary responsibility. Up to now, Xuyen Viet Oil is not capable of overcoming the consequences of the case, so it needs to be strictly handled," the Trial Panel stated its opinion.
The court sentenced Hanh to 19 years in prison for violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste; and 11 years in prison for bribery. The total sentence the defendant must receive is 30 years in prison (the highest level of fixed-term imprisonment); at the same time, he was forced to compensate for the total damage of the case, which is more than 1,400 billion VND.
Defendant Nguyen Thi Nhu Phuong, Deputy Director of Xuyen Viet Oil, was determined by the court to be Hanh’s cousin, a salaried employee with no financial or accounting qualifications, so her sentence was reduced. The court sentenced Phuong to 6 years in prison for violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste.
The other defendants, who are subordinates and employees of Xuyen Viet Oil, were determined by the Trial Council to have had limited roles and committed crimes under the direction of Hanh, not for personal gain, so their responsibilities were partially reduced; they were sentenced to one year in prison (with suspended sentence) to four years in prison for bribery.
Regarding former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai, the court determined that the defendant and many other officials of the Ministry such as Tran Duy Dong, Head of the Domestic Market Department, and two deputies Nguyen Loc An and Hoang Anh Tuan, received bribes from the owner of Xuyen Viet Oil to grant licenses for petroleum import and export business.
Nguyen Loc An knew that Xuyen Viet Oil Company was not qualified to do business in petroleum, but did not go to inspect the site but still made a request for his superior, Do Thang Hai, to sign and approve the issuance of a license. Every time he met with the owner of Xuyen Viet Oil, An received bribes from Hanh.
Of which, Mr. Hai received 50,000 USD (about 1.11 billion VND); Dong received 250,000 USD (equivalent to more than 5.6 billion VND); An received 400 million and a Patek Philippe watch; Tuan received 265,000 USD (equivalent to nearly 6 billion VND).
According to the Trial Council, the defendants' actions were considered cases of receiving bribes of over one billion VND, so they should be strictly handled. However, for defendant Hai, receiving money from Hanh was completely passive, after signing to reissue the license to Xuyen Viet Oil for more than a month. Previously, Xuyen Viet Oil had been licensed to operate as one of the major companies supplying gasoline to the Southern region; the incident took place during the Covid-19 pandemic, gasoline is one of the urgent items, so defendant Hai agreed to reissue the license to Xuyen Viet Oil; the amount of money received was less than that of the other defendants. Therefore, the Trial Council sentenced defendant Hai to 3 years in prison.
Former Director of Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department Le Duy Minh was determined to have received bribes 5 times (totaling more than 4.8 billion VND) from Ms. Hanh to delay issuing decisions to enforce tax debt collection, and not to publish information in the media so as not to affect this enterprise.