Former Director of the National Center for Judicial Records accused of receiving 43 billion VND

On March 29, Mr. Hung and two subordinates, Luong Nhan Hoa, former Deputy Director; Nguyen Dinh Canh, former Deputy Head of the General Administration Department and Pham Quang Hau, collaborator of Vicco Law Company Limited, were proposed by the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Security Agency (A09) to be prosecuted for bribery.

Ms. Truong Thi Nga, Lai Hong Khanh, Vu Nam, all former notaries, and Luong Minh Son, a professional staff member of Nguyen Lam Notary Office, were proposed to be prosecuted for the crime of abusing their positions and powers while performing official duties.

In the same case, A09 proposed to prosecute 14 people for bribery, including Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Cuong, editor of the Justice Publishing House, Ministry of Justice; Nguyen Thi Ngoc, specialist of the Hanoi Department of Justice; Nguyen Phuong Nam, former Deputy Head of the Judicial Support Department of the Hanoi Department of Justice.

According to the investigation conclusion, from 2015 to July 2023, Mr. Hung, as Director of the National Center for Judicial Records under the Ministry of Justice, directly directed and decided on all matters related to the issuance of judicial records at the unit. He had the authority to sign or authorize subordinates to sign judicial records.

From January 2019 to July 2023, Mr. Hung, with the help of the defendants Hoa, Canh, and Hau, repeatedly received bribes from the above 14 defendants and a number of other individuals and businesses to illegally issue criminal records.

In which, A09 determined that Mr. Hung was assisted by Hau and received a bribe of more than 32 billion VND to resolve more than 40,000 criminal record certificate applications. Mr. Hung was assisted by Hoa and Hau to receive a bribe of more than 8.2 billion VND to resolve more than 10,000 certificate applications. Mr. Hung was also assisted by Canh and Hau to receive a bribe of 3.5 billion VND to resolve more than 4,678 applications.

Thus, Mr. Hung was accused of receiving a total of more than 43 billion VND in bribes to issue nearly 55,000 criminal record certificates. Of which, he benefited from more than 38 billion VND; the remaining amount of more than 4.9 billion VND was divided among Hau, Hoa, and Canh.

In addition, in 2019, Hau had worked as a private driver for Mr. Hung, so he was agreed to be the contact person to receive criminal record certificate applications from those in need. The cost is negotiated by Hau with the customer.

But of this total amount, Hau must give Mr. Hung 700,000 VND/file/criminal record. Hau decides on his own how much he will benefit.

A09 assessed that this was a corruption case, the position related to the field of issuing judicial records was of a particularly serious and complicated nature, infringing on the proper operation of the State management agency, and receiving public attention.

From March 1, the Ministry of Public Security officially took over the task of managing and issuing criminal records from the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Public Security's Department of Professional Records and the Department of Professional Records of the Public Security of provinces and cities will be in charge.

The Law on Criminal Records, effective since July 2010, has created a legal basis for the development of a Criminal Records Database; proactively updating information on criminal record deletion, creating conditions for convicted people to reintegrate into the community. Criminal records are also an important tool to support agencies and organizations in personnel management and social management. Over the years, more than 8 million Criminal Records have been issued at the request of individuals and organizations.