Tomorrow, 3 former deputy directors of the department will appear in court in phase 2 of the rescue flight case.

Taking advantage of the epidemic for profit

Tomorrow, December 24, the Hanoi People's Court will open the second phase of the first-instance trial of the rescue flight case.

Among the 17 defendants prosecuted this time, there are 3 former leaders of departments and branches in the provinces, including: Mr. Tran Tung, former Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province, was accused of two crimes of "receiving bribes" and "abusing position and power while performing official duties".

Mr. Nguyen Van Van, former Deputy Director of the Department of Health, and Mr. Le Ngoc Tuong, former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam province were prosecuted for “receiving bribes”. In the same group of defendants are Tran Thi Quyen (Director of Sen Vang Dat Viet Company); Le Thi Phuong (former specialist of the Department of Science and Education - Culture and Society, Office of the People's Committee of Hai Duong province); Nguyen Manh Truong (former specialist of the Department of Air Transport, Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Ministry of Transport).

The other 10 defendants, mainly representing businesses and freelance workers, were accused of “giving bribes.” Nguyen Xuan Thong, a former police officer, was charged with “concealing a criminal.”

The trial is expected to last 8 days, with 23 lawyers participating in the defense. The panel of judges also summoned a number of people with related rights and obligations, and other participants in the proceedings.

According to the indictment, when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out and became complicated, the Government directed the organization of flights to bring Vietnamese citizens from abroad back to the country to prevent the epidemic. The Government assigned the Government Office, the Working Groups of a number of ministries and localities to carry out the flight licensing process and the quarantine policy.

Taking advantage of the Party and State's policies and assigned positions and powers, some individuals at the People's Committees of provinces and cities agreed to give/receive bribes and violated their official duties to advise and propose approval of policies for businesses to bring citizens back to the country for medical quarantine in their localities.

The defendants directly or through intermediaries colluded and agreed with officials of the Ministry of Health to give and receive large bribes in order to have written approvals and reviews for citizens (individual passengers) to return on individual flights.

In addition, there are defendants who took advantage of their positions to guide and incite related people to make false statements, conceal crimes, and obstruct the investigation and clarification of crimes by authorities.

Received bribes of tens of billions of dong

Specifically, in Thai Nguyen, defendant Tran Tung took advantage of his assignment to advise and propose that the Thai Nguyen Provincial People's Committee approve the quarantine policy in this province. When receiving the help of Tran Thi Quyen (Director of Sen Vang Dat Viet Trading and Service Company Limited), Mr. Tran Tung received a bribe of more than 4.4 billion VND and took advantage of his position and power while performing official duties, benefiting an additional 3.2 billion VND.

In Quang Nam, in his role as Deputy Director of the Department of Health of Quang Nam province, defendant Nguyen Van Van took advantage of his position, authority, and assigned tasks to receive a bribe of 450 million VND to comply with the request of Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang (Deputy Director of Blue Sky Company) in advising and proposing the People's Committee of Quang Nam province to issue a policy approving the reception of citizens for medical quarantine in Quang Nam for Hang's Blue Sky Company.

Meanwhile, defendant Le Ngoc Tuong (former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam) received bribes four times, totaling 400 million VND from Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang's group of companies.

On the side of the Ministry of Transport, the prosecution agency accused the defendant Vu Hong Quang (former Deputy Head of the Air Transport Department, Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam) of being responsible for receiving and considering decisions on granting flight permits to airlines to conduct "Combo" flights organized by enterprises, after approval from the Government Office and the Working Group of 4/5 Ministries.

However, when businesses organize "Combo" flights to bring citizens back to the country, some flights cannot rent large planes to carry all the approved number of passengers, so they have to rent two small planes, resulting in additional costs, while there are still empty seats.

To gain more profit, Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang (Deputy Director of Blue Sky Company) and Nguyen Tien Manh (Deputy Director of Viet Travel Company) negotiated and received permission from Vu Hong Quang to fly with a number of passengers exceeding the approved document at a cost of 2 million VND/passenger.

In addition, Vu Hong Quang also bribed Pham Trung Kien (an official of the Ministry of Health, who was prosecuted in phase 1) with 7.4 billion VND so that Kien could help obtain approval documents for 624 citizens to return home on individual flights, benefiting from nearly 20 billion VND.

Regarding Nguyen Xuan Thong, the Procuracy assessed that although there was no prior promise, when it learned that Tran Minh Tuan (who had been prosecuted in phase 1 of the case) had committed bribery, it instructed Tuan to make false statements to conceal his criminal behavior.

The Supreme People's Procuracy determined that the defendant Thong's actions had obstructed the investigation, prosecution, and trial of the case.