Former Provincial Party Secretary and former Chairman of Bac Ninh Provincial People's Committee to be tried at the end of October

The case will be tried publicly by the People's Court of Bac Ninh province.

According to the trial decision issued on October 8, the victim was identified as the Medical Construction Project Management Board, now the Civil and Industrial Construction Investment Project Management Board of Bac Ninh province.

The trial panel will summon 25 witnesses and 31 individuals and businesses as persons with related rights and obligations, including: the Department of Finance, the Department of Health and the Department of Planning and Investment of Bac Ninh province; 6 general hospitals in Que Vo, Yen Phong, Tien Du, Gia Binh, Thuan Thanh and Luong Tai districts; winning enterprises, enterprises involved in bidding and 12 individuals who are wives, children and relatives of the 12 defendants (those who paid compensation on behalf of the defendants).

22 lawyers registered to participate in the defense, of which Mr. Nguyen Nhan Chien had one lawyer, Mr. Nguyen Tu Quynh invited two lawyers.

In the case, Mr. Nguyen Nhan Chien, former Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, together with Mr. Nguyen Tu Quynh, former Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Nguyen Hanh Chung, former Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Tran Van Tuynh, former Director of the Management Board of the Bac Ninh Provincial Medical Construction Project, were prosecuted by the Supreme People's Procuracy for the crime of accepting bribes..

Former Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Ninh Province, Nguyen Van Nhuong, was prosecuted for abusing his position and power while performing official duties. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, former Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and General Director of AIC Company, was prosecuted for bribery.

This is the fourth case in which Ms. Nhan has been brought to court but is still on the run. The Procuracy has called on Ms. Nhan to surrender to receive leniency, otherwise she will forfeit her right to self-defense.

In the same case, 7 other people were prosecuted for violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences, including: Nguyen Hong Son, Deputy General Director of AIC Company (on the run); La Tuan Hung, General Director of Song Hong Joint Stock Corporation; Nguyen Dang An, former Head of the General Planning Department, Medical Construction Project Management Board under the Bac Ninh Department of Health; Nguyen Kim Huan, former Deputy Head of the General Planning Department, Medical Construction Project Management Board under the Bac Ninh Department of Health; Nguyen Viet Toan and Nguyen Dang Linh, AIC employees; Dang Xuan Minh, Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Director of BTC Value Valuation Joint Stock Company.

Mr. Nguyen Nhan Chien was Chairman of Bac Ninh province from 2011 to 2015, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee from 2015 to 2020.

According to the indictment, around mid-2013, before the province had a plan for 6 medical equipment procurement packages in Bac Ninh, the defendants Chung, Tuynh, and Hung all went to meet Mr. Chien.

As General Director of the Red River Joint Stock Corporation, Mr. Hung proposed to support the province in requesting additional government bond capital to continue implementing unfinished projects, including 6 district-level general hospital projects. However, Mr. Hung suggested that after the allocation of additional capital was approved, the Red River Corporation group would be awarded the medical equipment procurement packages.

Ms. Nhan's group also contacted Mr. Tuynh about support for additional funding and winning the bid. Mr. Chien agreed to the proposal to divide the 6 bid packages into two groups.

From 2014 to 2020, Mr. Chien was accused of receiving money and gifts from Ms. Nhan 13 times on holidays and Tet, totaling 13 billion VND. The most was Mr. Chien receiving 3 billion VND after AIC won three bids to supply medical equipment at Thuan Thanh District General Hospital, Luong Tai District and Gia Binh District.

The remaining 12 times, Mr. Chien received from Ms. Nhan at the office of the People's Committee and Provincial Party Committee of Bac Ninh, and once at his private home. The amount of money each time was from 500 million to 1-2 billion VND, in the form of "gifts".

In addition, from 2015 to 2017, on the occasion of Tet, Mr. Chien received gifts from Mr. Tuynh 5 times, each time 200 million VND, total 1 billion VND.

The Procuracy accused Mr. Chien of receiving bribes of 4 billion VND and 10 billion VND in the form of "gifts". He returned 14 billion VND, of which 4 billion VND was the profit, the rest was "voluntarily paid to remedy the consequences of the case".

In addition to Mr. Chien, defendant Nguyen Tu Quynh, former Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Ninh province, was accused of receiving bribes many times in his office. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Quynh received money from Mr. Tuynh in his office 5 times, each time 200 million VND. Furthermore, after AIC won the bids in Bac Ninh, Mr. Quynh received money from Ms. Nhan 9 other times, totaling 9.1 billion VND. Mr. Quynh returned 10.1 billion VND.

Former Director of Bac Ninh Department of Health Nguyen Hanh Chung was accused of receiving a total of 600 million VND 4 times. Of which, he received 500 million VND from Tuynh and 100 million VND from AIC.

The defendant Tran Van Tuynh was accused of receiving 6 billion VND from Phong and Hung's group outside the contract. This money was proposed to be transferred to the provincial leaders as a thank you. However, Mr. Tuynh only paid 2.8 billion VND to the provincial leaders, keeping the remaining 3.2 billion VND for himself.