How was Xuyen Viet Oil's $1 million bribe used?

In the case that occurred at Xuyen Viet Oil Trading, Transport and Tourism Company Limited and several agencies, many defendants received bribes of tens to hundreds of thousands of USD, along with gifts of watches and luxury cars, according to the conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security's Security Investigation Agency.

Deputy sells Patek Philippe watch for $23,000

According to the investigation conclusion, on August 22, 2016, Xuyen Viet Oil Company, with Mai Thi Hong Hanh as director, was granted a license to import and export gasoline by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Previously, because Xuyen Viet Oil did not meet the requirements, Ms. Hanh bribed Nguyen Loc An, Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), in charge of licensing, to ask for help.

The first time, in January 2016, through social relations, Ms. Hanh was introduced to Mr. An. Because she wanted to be a key trader in the petroleum business, during the meeting with Mr. An in Ho Chi Minh City, she offered to help Xuyen Viet Oil with a business license to export and import petroleum, because some conditions were still lacking.

Mr. An agreed to help and said that "the average cost is 5 to 7 billion VND". At the same time, Ms. Hanh had to legalize the missing licensing conditions and submit the documents to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for him to process. At this meeting, Mr. An received 50 million VND from Ms. Hanh.

Four months later, in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. An met and received 100 million VND from Ms. Hanh. After giving the money to Mr. An and legalizing the documents to meet the conditions, Ms. Hanh submitted an application to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to grant a business license to export and import gasoline for Xuyen Viet Oil Company.

On August 18, 2016, Mr. An led an inspection team from the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the headquarters of Xuyen Viet Oil to inspect the actual conditions for granting the license. The authorities accused the company of not fully inspecting the retail agents, ports, and fuel receiving warehouses that the company declared, but Mr. An still signed the minutes confirming that the documents were correct and that the conditions were met. During this inspection, Mr. An received money from Ms. Hanh twice, a total of 250 million VND.

A year later, in July 2017, after Xuyen Viet Oil was licensed, Mr. An went to Ho Chi Minh City for work. To "reward" him for getting the license, under the pretext of wishing him a belated birthday, Ms. Hanh invited Mr. An to dinner at her house and gave him a Patek Philippe watch. He said he sold the watch for $23,000.

The Director and Deputy Director shared bribe money in the office.

In June 2021, the license granted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to Xuyen Viet Oil Company in 2016 was about to expire. Due to not meeting the conditions to be re-issued the license, Ms. Hanh contacted Mr. Do Thang Hai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, "for help".

Mr. Hai agreed and introduced Ms. Hanh to contact Hoang Anh Tuan - Deputy Director of Domestic Market Department, for specific instructions. At the same time, Mr. Hai called to direct Mr. Tuan to promptly review and resolve the application for re-issuance of Xuyen Viet Oil's license.

Upon receiving the information, Mr. Tuan discussed with Department Head Tran Duy Dong and both agreed to "create favorable conditions to help" Xuyen Viet Oil according to the direction of Deputy Minister Hai. Dong reminded Tuan to pay attention to ensuring the form and composition of the documents.

After that, Ms. Hanh directed Nguyen Van Thang - Deputy Director of Hanoi Branch of Xuyen Viet Oil Company, to bring 10,000 USD to Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan. However, Thang only gave 5,000 USD, the rest was deposited in the Hanoi branch fund.

However, Xuyen Viet Oil's application has not been approved due to the lack of conditions for a dedicated wharf, a fuel receiving warehouse, and a distribution system. In September 2021, Ms. Hanh continued to assign Thang to bring 300,000 USD to bribe Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan and Tran Duy Dong.

On the way to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Thang spent 50,000 USD.

Upon arrival, Thang met Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan and was taken to Mr. Dong's office. Thang said, "Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms. Hanh could not go to Hanoi. Ms. Hanh sent you a gift," placing the bag of money close to Mr. Dong's seat on the sofa.

After Thang left, Mr. Tuan and Mr. Dong divided the $250,000 into two parts. Mr. Dong kept $120,000 and gave $130,000 to Tuan, the investigation concluded.

When Mr. Tuan led the delegation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to Xuyen Viet Oil, he was taken to symbolically inspect a gas station of this enterprise. On the way back, Thang gave Tuan 10,000 USD, following the instructions of Ms. Hanh.

Therefore, despite not fully inspecting the retail agents and ports, when receiving the gasoline and oil that Xuyen Viet Oil declared in the documents, Mr. Tuan still signed the minutes confirming that "basically meeting the conditions to be re-issued the license to export and import gasoline and oil".

The investigation agency also alleged that during this inspection, Mr. Tuan knew that the use of the Petroleum Price Stabilization Fund at Xuyen Viet Oil was not in accordance with regulations, "but because Hanh had repeatedly bribed him, he ignored it, did not consider or propose handling or rectification".

In November 2021, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan reported that he only checked a few retail agents and not all of them, but Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai still signed to reissue the license to Xuyen Viet Oil. After that, Ms. Hanh went to Mr. Hai's room and gave him a gift bag containing 50,000 USD in "thank you money".

According to the conclusion, Ms. Hanh bribed a total of 365,000 USD to leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Domestic Market Department.

Former Ben Tre Party Secretary sent bribe money to his younger brother's house

In early 2018, Mai Thi Hong Hanh met Mr. Le Duc Tho, then Mr. Tho was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietinbank, with the authority to approve credit limits of over 3,000 billion VND for customers.

To get Mr. Tho to create conditions for granting credit limits and extending the credit limit maintenance period for Xuyen Viet Oil Company, Ms. Hanh twice gave bribes, totaling 600,000 USD.

The first time, in January 2019, Mr. Tho received 100,000 USD from Ms. Hanh and was asked to support Xuyen Viet Oil to be granted a credit limit of 7,000 billion VND. Mr. Tho accepted and asked Ms. Hanh to provide sufficient documents for consideration and settlement.

A year later, Ms. Hanh met Mr. Tho, gave 500,000 USD, and offered to help Xuyen Viet Oil get a credit limit of 5,000 billion VND in 2020-2021, expanding the credit conditions to 30%. Mr. Tho accepted and asked Ms. Hanh to provide documents.

In addition to the two bribes totaling 600,000 USD mentioned above, Mr. Tho was also accused of receiving money from Ms. Hanh many times with the purpose of getting to know her, creating relationships, and giving her birthday and holiday gifts including 470,000 USD and a Patek Philippe watch worth 1.1 billion VND.

Of the total amount of more than one million USD received from Ms. Hanh, Mr. Tho declared that he deposited 440,000 USD at his younger brother's house. Currently, his younger brother has voluntarily returned this amount to the authorities.

During his tenure as Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee (July 2021), Mr. Tho was also given a set of Honma golf clubs worth VND 1.1 billion and a Patek Philippe watch worth USD 421,000 by Ms. Hanh; a Mercedes Benz S450 car (worth VND 6.669 billion) and USD 200,000. The investigation agency alleged that this was the money and assets Mr. Tho received by abusing his position and power to urge Vietinbank Ben Tre to settle the loan for Viet Oil Company.

In addition to the money and assets mentioned above, Ms. Hanh also sent money and birthday gifts many times to congratulate Mr. Tho on becoming Secretary of Ben Tre, including 200,000 USD, 300 million VND, and three Patek Philippe watches.

Mr. Tho said he used the above money and assets for personal expenses.