Former Hai Phong Police Director Do Huu Ca was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In the verdict announced this afternoon, April 12, the court determined that Mr. Do Huu Ca had appropriated an exceptionally large amount of money, directly infringed on citizens' property rights, and had a negative impact on public opinion. Mr. Ca's actions were aggravating circumstances of committing the crime multiple times. Mr. Ca was therefore sentenced to 10 years in prison for fraud and appropriation of property..Yesterday, the Procuracy proposed a sentence of 10-11 years.

The court noted that during his time working in the police force, the defendant was awarded many certificates of merit and medals. During the interrogation, Mr. Ca showed remorse and admitted his guilt. He received petitions from the Hai Phong People's Committee, Hai Phong Police, and many agencies, organizations, and individuals to reduce his sentence. These circumstances, along with his serious illness and his advanced age, the court applied many mitigating points to the former director of Hai Phong Police.

In another case, defendant Truong Xuan Duoc was sentenced to 24 months in prison for illegally trading invoices and documents for payment to the state budget. and 7 years in prison for bribery,The total sentence was 9 years in prison. Mr. Duoc was assessed by the Trial Council as having the highest role in the case.

Mr. Duoc's wife, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, received 18 months in prison for illegally trading invoices and documents for state budget payments. and 3 years in prison for bribery,total sentence 4 years.

Mr. Duoc and his wife proactively reported their bribery behavior, so the authorities returned 15 out of the 35 billion VND they gave to Mr. Ca.

For bribery, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Duong, former head of the Cat Hai District Tax Department, was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months and his subordinate Do Thanh Hoai was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months for bribery.

Mr. Dang Khac Thanh was proposed to be sentenced to 18 months in prison and Ha Thi Bich Nhan was sentenced to 15 months in prison for illegally buying and selling invoices and documents for payment to the state budget.

Defendants Ha Thi Trang, Do Thi Dua, Vu Ngoc Tu, Chu Thi Thu Hien, Nguyen Hien Tai and Ngo Van Tuyen were fined from 300 million VND to 2.5 billion VND for tax evasion.

The indictment and verdict stated that Mr. Duoc started trading in illegal invoices for profit in 2005 when he established Khanh Dung Joint Stock Company. Initially, Mr. Duoc and his wife bought input invoices at a price of 5 to 6% of the value of goods and services listed on the invoice (excluding VAT). In 2018, Mr. Duoc realized that buying invoices from others was risky and easy to be detected, so he set up many companies to both provide input invoices and sell illegal invoices to others.

By the time they were arrested, Mr. Duoc and his wife had established 26 "ghost" companies. The illegal purchase and sale of invoices by Mr. Duoc and his wife had been going on for a long time but had not been discovered or handled.

Authorities said that due to the time limit for criminal prosecution of the crime of illegally trading in invoices and documents for payment to the state budget is 10 years (serious crime), so the investigation of the invoices of these two defendants is calculated from February 2013, with more than 15,600 illegal purchase invoices.

The total transaction value recorded on the invoice was more than 6,000 billion VND. Mr. Duoc and his wife illegally earned more than 41 billion VND after deducting all expenses.

According to authorities, to facilitate business, Duoc and his wife colluded with the head of the Cat Hai district tax department, Nguyen Dinh Duong, and tax officer Do Thanh Hoai.

From August 2021 to August 2022, Mr. Duoc and his wife gave Mr. Duong and Hoai a total of 362 million VND. Of this, 70 million VND was an envelope when meeting, 100 million VND when establishing two new companies and 192 million VND as a monthly "salary" according to the agreement.

In 2022, Duoc's behavior was targeted by Quang Ninh Provincial Police. Having had a close relationship for 19 years and being considered a family member by former Hai Phong Police Director Do Huu Ca, Mr. Duoc asked his wife to come to him for help before fleeing.

When Mr. Ca asked and said they needed to prepare money to fix the consequences, Duoc and his wife brought many sacks of money four times, thinking that this was money to fix the case, a total of 35 billion VND.

However, Mr. Duoc was still arrested on February 3, 2023, and Ngoc Anh was arrested 4 days later. The money transfer was discovered. On March 15, 2023, Mr. Ca was arrested.

Working with the investigation agency and on the first day in court, Mr. Ca stated that there was a matter where Duoc and his wife brought money to the house to ask for help. Duoc's violation was illegally trading value-added invoices, so he said "if we want to save the family, we have to pay back the money we appropriated from the state" and add another amount to prevent any problems.

"I told Ngoc Anh very carefully, I never told her to bring money to escape the crime and I never told her to bring money to my house," Mr. Ca stated, affirming that he "did not meet anyone to influence or escape the crime". He did not touch the bags of money. Only when the police counted them did he know it was 35 billion VND.

In response to this statement, Mr. Duoc said, "If my brother dares to do it, he dares not accept it." Accordingly, if Mr. Ca had not asked, his family would not have withdrawn money from the bank. "I just suddenly took the money home without any reason, so I'm not crazy," Mr. Duoc explained.

After a night of thinking, on the second working day of the Court, Mr. Ca suddenly pleaded guilty. Fraudulent appropriation of property. He said he found his previous perception incorrect, partly due to old age making it difficult to approach new things, and his legal thinking was outdated.

In his final statement in court, Mr. Ca, who served as the Director of Hai Phong Police for 9 years, affirmed that he had never lied or been disrespectful to anyone in his life. Even though he was retired, life was not so difficult that he had to cheat his close brother out of money "in such a silly way."

Hearing his brother's final words in court, Duoc also sadly said: "I ask the jury to reduce Ca's sentence, but I don't need anything."