Long-term and organized violations at the Environment and Urban Magazine

On October 1, the Investigation Police Agency of Thai Binh Province Police prosecuted and issued arrest warrants for the following defendants: Dong Xuan Thu, Editor-in-Chief; Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, Deputy Editor-in-Chief; Bui Van Toan, Head of the Economic and Environmental Department; Cao Thi Thu Huong, accountant, and many reporters of the Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine, to investigate the act of extortion.

Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine is the mouthpiece of the Vietnam Industrial Zone Environment and Urban Association. This association is a professional social organization, not a State agency, therefore, Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine is not a State organization.

Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine has been edited by Mr. Dong Xuan Thu (born in 1972, residing in Lang Ha ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi) since 2002.

In provinces such as Thai Binh, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Lang Son... under the assignment and direction of Mr. Dong Xuan Thu and Bui Van Toan, reporters and collaborators under their authority actively and aggressively searched for, spied on, filmed, and took photos of signs of violations from large to small, focusing on yards, construction sites, overloaded vehicles... to put pressure on authorities, investors, contractors, individuals, businesses... to demand money, through "sponsorship" contracts for the "Golden Broom" program.

Although not voluntary and not in need, many victims, due to fear of affecting their reputation, business, projects... were forced to reluctantly accept to participate in sponsorship and support.

Mr. Dong Xuan Thu is the Editor-in-Chief, the person with the position and authority to direct and manage the general activities; Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hong (born in 1977, residing in Linh Nam ward, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi) is the person who actively assists the defendant Dong Xuan Thu in managing the activities of this magazine.

Heads of the committee such as Bui Van Toan directly direct reporters and collaborators to search for violations of individuals, agencies, and businesses who write articles published in the Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine, to put pressure on victims for fear of affecting their reputation and business; to put pressure on local authorities, forcing victims to contact reporters to ask for articles to be removed or to stop writing articles reflecting violations.

At that time, the reporters asked the victims to donate from 20 million to 300 million VND to the "Golden Broom" program launched by the Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine if they wanted to remove the article or stop writing.

The donation amount was transferred to the bank account of Vietnam Press and Television Advertising Joint Stock Company, of which Dong Thi Khanh Dung (Mr. Thu's sister) is the Director; the bank account of the magazine or brought directly to Cao Thi Thu Huong (born in 1989, residing in Ta Thanh Oai commune, Thanh Tri district, Hanoi), who is the chief accountant of the advertising company and the above magazine. If they do not agree, the subjects will continue to put pressure on the local authorities and continue to write articles reflecting the wrongdoings of the victims.

Accordingly, reporters and collaborators of the Environment and Urban Magazine were also prosecuted by the Investigation Police Agency of Thai Binh Province Police for the act of extortion of property, such as: Dang Van Phuc (born in 1986, residing in Binh Minh Commune, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi); Vu Duc Lan (born in 1981, residing in Xuan Phuong Ward, Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi); Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen (born in 1989, residing in Vu Chinh Commune, Thai Binh City, Thai Binh Province); Nguyen Tat Trien (born in 1978, residing in Tran Lam Ward, Thai Binh City, Thai Binh Province)...

These subjects are responsible for investigating and detecting violations by individuals, businesses, and organizations and reporting back to Toan. After writing the articles, these subjects will present them to Toan for review and approval before posting them to the Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine.

When individuals and businesses with violations contacted reporters, Toan joined the reporters in meeting the victims, threatening to continue writing articles and demanding that the victims support the “Golden Broom” program. Toan was responsible for contacting and discussing with defendant Dong Xuan Thu about the company’s violations.

In addition, the recruitment of this magazine is also “problematic”. Because the person considered the “right hand” of the Editorial Board in “making money” for the program “Golden Broom”, Bui Van Toan, also had a previous conviction for “Extortion of property” when he was a reporter for another newspaper.

According to the documents we have, at that time, with the same method as in this case, Toan and two others blackmailed the director of a business in Nghe An. In November 2016, for the act of extortion, Bui Van Toan was sentenced to 12 months of suspended imprisonment by the People's Court of Yen Thanh district, Nghe An province. We do not know whether the leaders of the Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine knew about the "black mark" in Bui Van Toan's resume or not? Or did they consider it an "experience" in Toan's work?

It is known that Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen previously went to work abroad. After returning to Vietnam, the defendant worked locally, then was introduced to be a driver for Bui Van Toan and became a collaborator and reporter for the Environment and Urban Magazine as he is now.

Tuyen was the main subject, receiving direct orders from Bui Van Toan to operate and commit crimes in Thai Binh. The same goes for Nguyen Tat Trien, who previously worked at a company in Thai Binh and has just quit his job about a year ago. Due to his family relationship with Toan, he also worked as a journalist and applied to this magazine...

It can be said that these subjects do not come from journalism but from other professions. In addition, they do not focus on journalism but mainly take advantage of and borrow the name of journalism to extort property. The subjects carry out acts of extortion of property in an organized manner, operating for a long time, causing outrage and pain to public opinion, the business community, individuals and organizations.

The subjects did not receive the money directly but asked the victims to transfer the money to the bank account of the Vietnam Environment and Urban Magazine and the account of the Vietnam Press and Television Advertising Joint Stock Company. Every month, Mr. Thu would direct Cao Thi Thu Huong to withdraw money from the company's and magazine's accounts to deposit into Huong's personal account.

After that, Huong would transfer the percentage of money (pre-agreed upon) to the subjects in the group of reporters, collaborators as well as pay the salaries of the magazine's staff. By using the above tricks, for a long time, Mr. Dong Xuan Thu and the subjects put pressure on many victims in many provinces and cities, appropriating tens of billions of VND.

Colonel Pham Manh Hung, Deputy Director, Head of the Investigation Police Agency of Thai Binh Province Police, Head of the Special Investigation Committee said: This is a very complicated case, with sophisticated and organized methods and tricks of operation, wide scope of operation, involving many provinces and cities across the country.

The subjects are all people who understand the law, operating "disguised" under the name of a charitable press agency. The subjects' actions took place over a long period of time, causing frustration, pain, and anger for agencies, units, organizations, individuals, and businesses.

After receiving feedback from a number of victims and determining the very serious and complicated nature of the case, the leaders of Thai Binh Provincial Police decided to establish a special investigation project, determined to strictly handle the case, clean up the investment and business environment, and normal operations of organizations, individuals, and enterprises; at the same time, contribute to rectifying and eliminating "bad apples" to clean up the Vietnamese press team, protect and strengthen the reputation of press agencies and genuine, orthodox journalists.

After many months of implementing the project, the Project Board has sufficient documents and evidence to prove all the illegal acts of the subjects.