Former Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong is about to appear in court in the case related to EVN.

The case is expected to last 8 days, chaired by the Chief Justice of the Criminal Court of Hanoi People's Court.

About 40 lawyers registered to defend the 12 defendants. Mr. Hoang Quoc Vuong, former Chairman of Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) and former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, had the most lawyers, with 7. More than 90 people with related rights and obligations were summoned by the court.

In the case, Mr. Vuong and Mr. Phuong Hoang Kim (former director of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Department) and 7 others were mentioned in the indictment just completed by the Supreme People's Procuracy, prosecuted for the crime ofAbuse of position and power while performing official duties.

Three defendants at the Binh Phuoc Provincial Tax Department, Mr. Nguyen Duy Khanh (former deputy director), Tran Van Dinh (former head of department) and Pham Quang Vinh (former deputy head of department) were prosecuted for the crime.Lack of responsibility causes serious consequences.

Mr. Vuong was accused of being assigned to the Department of Electricity and Renewable Energy during his time as Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. From August 31, 2018 to April 6, 2020, he directly directed the drafting of Prime Minister's Decision No. 13/2020 on the mechanism to encourage the development of solar power in Vietnam.

During the implementation, Mr. Vuong was well aware of the Government's policies and the Prime Minister's instructions at meetings on mechanisms and policies to support Ninh Thuan province with solar power projects. However, for personal gain, Mr. Vuong took advantage of his position and assigned authority to intentionally direct the Electricity and Renewable Energy Department to draft a draft in the direction of expanding the scope of beneficiaries of preferential electricity prices.

The Deputy Minister also agreed on the proposal for the Trung Nam - Thuan Nam Solar Power Plant project to be approved for additional planning, requesting a price mechanism of 9.35 UScents/kWh for this project.

During the drafting process, Mr. Nguyen Tam Thinh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trung Nam Thuan Nam Company, and his staff met Mr. Vuong and his secretary many times to give money. There were 6 times, each time 100 million VND and once 200 million VND, according to the indictment.

After the Trung Nam - Thuan Nam Solar Power Plant project was put into commercial operation, Mr. Thinh and another person came to meet Mr. Vuong and gave him VND500 million "to congratulate him on his job transfer". In 2018, when Mr. Vuong chaired the inspection team to inspect the progress of the adjusted power planning VII projects, Mr. Thinh gave him an additional VND200 million.

Thus, in total, Mr. Vuong is accused of receiving 1.5 billion VND from Trung Nam - Thuan An Company. However, during the investigation, Mr. Thinh did not admit to giving and receiving the money.

Regarding defendant Phuong Hoang Kim, the Procuracy determined that during his time as Director of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Department, he was assigned to be the team leader to draft Decision 13. Mr. Kim clearly knew the Government's policies, but because he "wanted to create unjust conditions" for the Trung Nam - Thuan Nam Solar Power Plant, he intentionally pushed the responsibility onto his subordinates. Since then, the Trung Nam - Thuan Nam Solar Power Plant project has enjoyed a preferential electricity price of 9.35 UScents/kWh.

The prosecution agency accused Mr. Vuong and Kim of wrongdoings that caused EVN a total loss of more than 1,043 billion VND.

Many officials violate but 'not for personal gain'

During the investigation, the prosecution agencies did not criminally prosecute 15 officials at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 5 people at the Ministry of Justice, 7 people at the Government Office and a number of related individuals.

According to the indictment, many members of the drafting team of Decision 13 only violated the process and procedures. The investigation results showed that they did not receive money or material benefits to create improper conditions for the business, so they were not considered for punishment.

Regarding the responsibility of the head, the indictment stated that Mr. Tran Tuan Anh, former Minister of Industry and Trade for the period 2016 - 2021 and Mr. Trinh Dinh Dung, former Deputy Prime Minister, were involved in signing the submission and signing the issuance of Decision No. 13. However, according to the Procuracy, the two men were not informed of the draft content, which had a wider scope of preferential electricity prices than Resolution 115 of the Government.

The investigation results also showed that the two men "had no motive for profit or other personal motives" to create improper conditions for the business. Therefore, the investigation agency has no basis to consider prosecuting Mr. Tran Tuan Anh and Trinh Dinh Dung.