Two former police officers sentenced to prison, money confiscated to "fix the case"

Accordingly, the Trial Panel sentenced defendant Bui Trung Kien (born in 1980, former officer of Department 6, Department of Investigation Police on Crimes of Corruption, Economy, and Smuggling - C03, Ministry of Public Security) to 9 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" as prescribed in Article 174, Clause 4 - Penal Code.

The court sentenced the remaining 5 defendants, including: Le Thanh An (born in 1976, former officer of Department 5, C03, Ministry of Public Security) to 6 years in prison; Tran Van Long (born in 1976, General Director of Viet Tourism Media Joint Stock Company) to 3 years in prison; Nguyen Ngoc Trieu (born in 1973, former member of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, namely Venerable Thich Dong Hue, Abbot of Nom Pagoda, who had a decision to return to secular life and resign from all positions in the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha) to 5 years in prison; Bui Thi Hong Giang (born in 1975, Director of Bui Gia and Associates Limited Liability Law Firm) to 9 years in prison and Ha Duy Tuan (born in 1985, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Long Thinh Investment Joint Stock Company) to 9 years in prison for the same crime of "Bribery brokerage" as prescribed in Article 365, Clause 4 - Penal Code.

The first instance verdict determined that in early 2021, when C03 verified bidding-related activities at Thu Duc City Hospital, Mr. Nguyen Minh Quan (then Director of the Hospital) was afraid of being discovered for his violations, so he contacted the defendants in the case to ask for help.

Between March 2021 and July 2021, Mr. Quan repeatedly gave Bui Trung Kien, Bui Thi Hong Giang and Tran Van Long 2.67 million USD (equivalent to nearly 60 billion VND) to run the case.

Defendant Bui Trung Kien, although not assigned the task of verifying the incident related to Thu Duc City Hospital, Kien clearly knew that he was incapable and had no intention of asking anyone for help, but because he wanted to appropriate money for personal expenses, he still agreed to help Mr. Quan in order to avoid being prosecuted for criminal liability at the "price" of 2.2 million USD and Kien received the full amount.

In May 2021, seeing that C03 was still checking vigorously, Mr. Quan asked Kien to get his money back. Kien paid 1.15 million USD, and appropriated 1.05 million USD (equivalent to 23.5 billion VND). Later, defendant Kien returned this amount of misappropriated money.

Unable to get help from Kien, Mr. Quan continued to ask the remaining defendants and gave them a total of more than 1.5 million USD. Defendant Le Thanh An (at that time a C03 officer) received the full amount and asked Ha Duy Tuan to "bribe" him. Tuan took 970,000 USD and asked defendant Nguyen Ngoc Trieu for help. Defendant Trieu agreed and asked another person to help Mr. Quan but was unsuccessful.

In which, defendant Kien defrauded and appropriated more than 23 billion VND from Mr. Nguyen Minh Quan. Defendants Giang and Long brokered bribes of more than 36 billion VND, defendant An brokered more than 33 billion VND, Tuan more than 22 billion VND, Trieu more than 8 billion VND to help Mr. Nguyen Minh Quan "run the case", but failed.

According to the first instance judgment, this is a serious case, the defendants' actions have violated the proper operation of law enforcement agencies, causing negative impacts on public opinion. The defendants are all aware that their actions are illegal but still deliberately commit them, therefore, it is necessary to isolate the defendants to have a warning, deterrence and general prevention effect.

As for the defendant Kien, although he was not able to help Mr. Quan, he received money from Mr. Quan many times in very large amounts, showing his will to commit fraud to appropriate property. This is an aggravating circumstance for the defendant Kien, so the defendant Kien must receive the highest sentence among the defendants in the case.

The panel of judges also considered that the defendants in the case had honestly admitted their crimes, repented, were conscious of compensating, remedying the consequences, and returning the illegal proceeds... so they decided to partially reduce the sentences for the defendants.

Previously, in the debate, the representative of the Procuracy stated that in this case, Mr. Nguyen Minh Quan was not considered criminally responsible for the crime of Bribery, but the representative of the Procuracy requested the Court to confiscate the entire amount of bribe money to be added to the State budget.

Presenting in court, the defense attorney for Mr. Nguyen Minh Quan sent Mr. Quan's apology to the defendants in the case for helping him and being implicated and brought to trial for the crime of Bribery Brokerage. However, as Mr. Quan was the victim, the attorney requested to return the bribe money to Mr. Quan.

The trial panel concluded that the bribe money was illegal and ordered the confiscation of the entire bribe money to be added to the State budget.

According to Tin Tuc newspaper