This morning, the trial of the Xuyen Viet Oil case began.

On the morning of November 20, Mr. Le Duc Tho, former Secretary of Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee; Mr. Do Thang Hai, former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade; Tran Duy Dong, former Director of the Domestic Market Department; two former Deputy Directors of the Domestic Market Department Hoang Anh Tuan and Nguyen Loc An; former Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department Le Duy Minh; former Deputy Director of the Price Management Department, Ministry of Finance Dang Cong Khoi and Director of Nghi Son Oil Refinery Product Distribution Branch Phan Kien Anh were tried by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court for bribery.

Mr. Le Duc Tho, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietinbank and former Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee, was prosecuted for abusing his position and power to influence others for personal gain and accepting bribes.

Leading the case, Ms. Mai Thi Hong Hanh, Director and Chairwoman of the Board of Members of Xuyen Viet Oil Trading, Transport and Tourism Company Limited, was tried for violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste, and bribery. Ms. Hanh's deputy, Nguyen Thi Nhu Phuong, was accused of violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste.

In connection with the case, five other people were prosecuted for bribery.

Nearly 30 lawyers defending the defendants attended the trial, including three lawyers defending the former secretary of Ben Tre province. The court summoned 95 people with related rights and obligations.

The trial is expected to last until December 5.

Xuyen Viet Oil "spends heavily" to get a license to trade in gasoline

According to the indictment, Xuyen Viet Oil, formerly Xuyen Viet Company Limited, has been operating since 2005. After many changes, it registered to increase its charter capital to 3,000 billion VND with 15 branches, 6 gas stations, and 9 related companies.

By 2016, Xuyen Viet Oil was granted a license to import and export petroleum by the Ministry of Industry and Trade - becoming a leading petroleum trader.

Because Xuyen Viet Oil did not meet the requirements, Ms. Hanh raised the issue with Deputy Director Nguyen Loc An at a hotel in District 3 and he quoted the licensing fee at about 5-7 billion VND, and at the same time asked Hanh to legalize the missing licensing conditions and submit the licensing application to the one-stop department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for An to handle.

The investigation agency determined that, although it did not fully inspect the retail agents, ports, and fuel receiving warehouses that Xuyen Viet Oil Company declared in the license application, An still signed a confirmation document stating that it "met the conditions", then signed an official dispatch to submit to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai.

Based on An's proposal, on August 22, 2016, Mr. Hai signed and issued a business license to export and import gasoline for Xuyen Viet Oil Company within 5 years.

During the process of obtaining the license, Ms. Hanh bribed Mr. An 4 times, totaling 921 million VND, including 400 million VND in cash and a Patek Philippe watch.

In June 2021, when the license was about to expire, Hanh directed employees to prepare money to bribe officials, leaders of the Domestic Market Department, and leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to request a re-issue.

Through Nguyen Loc An, in mid-June 2021, Hanh contacted Mr. Do Thang Hai (the person with the authority to sign and issue business licenses for petroleum export and import) for help. Hanh promised to thank him when the company was licensed. Mr. Hai agreed and introduced Hanh to contact Hoang Anh Tuan for procedural instructions.

During the licensing process for Xuyen Viet Oil, Mr. Do Thang Hai received a bribe of 50,000 USD (about 1.1 billion VND) from Hanh; Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan received it from Ms. Hanh or through a helper 3 times, a total of 5.9 billion VND; Tran Duy Dong received 5.6 billion VND.

Received "bribes" to direct the granting of trillion-dong credit to Xuyen Viet Oil

In 2018, Mr. Le Duc Tho, as General Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietinbank, had the authority to approve credit limits, grant credit limits, and review and approve loan applications for businesses. The indictment determined that from 2019 to 2021, Mr. Tho took advantage of his position and authority to accept bribes and influence others for personal gain.

Specifically, in the case of Xuyen Viet Oil Company borrowing capital from Vietinbank, requesting a credit limit of VND 5,000 billion and extending the credit limit maintenance period, from 2019 to January 2020, Mr. Tho twice received bribes, totaling USD 600,000 (equivalent to VND 13.8 billion) from Mai Thi Hong Hanh.

At the end of 2021, when he was Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee, Mr. Tho was also accused of taking advantage of his position and authority at that time and the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietinbank to influence the Director of the Ben Tre branch to give Xuyen Viet Oil Company a favorable loan, with a credit limit of 400 billion VND, preferential interest rates and a loan collateral ratio of 40%.

According to the prosecution, Mr. Tho received money and valuable assets from Ms. Mai Thi Hong Hanh many times, including 200,000 USD (4.5 billion VND); a golf set (worth 1.1 billion VND); a Patek Philippe watch (worth 421,000 USD - equivalent to 9.855 billion VND); a Mercedes Benz S450 car (worth 6.669 billion VND).

During the investigation, Mr. Tho influenced his family to pay back 16.7 billion VND to remedy the consequences. The Supreme People's Procuracy recognized many mitigating circumstances such as his honest confession and many contributions to society.

Bribing officials, concealing embezzlement of 1,244 billion VND

After bribing officials to become a key trader in the petroleum business, Ms. Hanh violated regulations on the establishment, management and use of the petroleum price stabilization fund, causing a loss of VND 219 billion and violated regulations on the management and use of environmental protection tax money, causing a loss of VND 1,244 billion.

To be able to ignore this violation, from 2016 to 2021, Ms. Hanh also bribed many officials and leaders of functional agencies. Among them was Mr. Dang Cong Khoi, Deputy Director of the Price Management Department, Ministry of Finance - the person with the authority to inspect and supervise the Petroleum Price Stabilization Fund at key traders, including Xuyen Viet Oil.

Mr. Khoi was informed by his subordinates that Xuyen Viet Oil did not send the statement of the Petroleum Price Stabilization Fund account to the Price Management Department, as required, but did not direct timely handling measures, nor did he remind Xuyen Viet Oil to comply with the law, creating conditions for Ms. Hanh to misappropriate this money. Mr. Khoi received 20,000 USD from Ms. Hanh to ignore the violation.

In addition, to successfully carry out the act of causing a loss of VND 1,244 billion in environmental protection tax revenue, Ms. Hanh bribed Mr. Le Duy Minh, then Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department from January 2020 to November 2022.

From March 4, 2020 to December 24, 2021, Ms. Hanh went to Mr. Minh's office 5 times to give bribes, totaling 190,000 USD and 500 million VND, to help Xuyen Viet Oil delay issuing decisions to enforce tax debt collection, and not publish information in the media to avoid affecting the company's image.

During the investigation, the Ministry of Public Security temporarily seized 134 savings books worth more than VND 1,117 billion, 17 red books and many other valuable assets.