The truth gradually revealed in the case of Bong Lai Monastery

On May 12, the Long An Provincial Police Department's Investigation Security Agency issued a decision to prosecute and temporarily detain Ms. Cao Thi Cuc (62 years old, residing in Hoa Khanh Tay commune, Duc Hoa district) to investigate the act of Abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, organizations and individuals under Article 331 of the Penal Code.

Previously, on January 5, Duc Hoa District Police initiated a criminal case, prosecuted the accused, and temporarily detained Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen (32 years old), Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen (31 years old) and Le Thanh Trung Duong (27 years old, all residing at Ms. Cuc's house). Mr. Le Tung Van (90 years old) was also prosecuted but due to old age, he was released on bail and prohibited from leaving his place of residence.

Previously, Ms. Cao Thi Cuc lived in Long Huu Dong commune, Can Duoc district, Long An province. In 2014, she sold her land and gardens and then went to Hoa Khanh Tay commune, Duc Hoa district to buy a house and land of nearly 2,000 square meters, then renovated it into a home-based meditation center.

In 2015, Mr. Le Tung Van (born in 1932, in An Giang province, residing in District 6, Ho Chi Minh City) moved here to live. The two "transformed" this home practice place into a place called Tinh That Bong Lai. In January 2020, to avoid the self-inflicted noise, Mr. Le Tung Van changed the name of this place to "Thien am ben bo vu tru".

Ms. Cao Thi Cuc at the police station

Without permission from local authorities and the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Ms. Cao Thi Cuc and Mr. Le Tung Van bought many Buddha statues to place on pre-designed shelves, shaved their heads, bought Buddhist robes to wear and equip for the people in this household.

They also directed the clips posted online, showing Mr. Van wearing a yellow robe (which only Venerables, Venerables, and Venerables are allowed to wear) sitting on a high platform, then staged a number of women kneeling on the floor, lighting incense and bowing as if they were bowing to Buddha. In addition, the two also edited a clip of Mr. Le Tung Van performing the ordination ceremony for two girls, Vo Thi Diem My and Truong Ngoc Xuan.

After several clips appeared on social media, Venerable Thich Nhat Tu, member of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and abbot of Giac Ngo Pagoda, spoke out that Le Tung Van, a lay Buddhist, could not ordain others. According to videos posted on YouTube and social media, when ordaining Vo Thi Diem My and Truong Ngoc Xuan, Le Tung Van declared that he did not follow the five Buddhist precepts.

Mr. Le Tung Van has never been ordained, has never received the novice or monk precepts, but publicly performing the ordination ceremony for others is a serious violation of Buddhist precepts. By doing this, Mr. Van has deceived Buddhist followers, indirectly leading viewers to believe that he is a Buddha.

To attract the support of Buddhist followers who donated money and material goods, Ms. Cuc and Mr. Van built many rows of houses, brought some children to live there, filmed a clip and then posted it online that this was a "shelter for homeless children".

After being reminded many times about illegal construction on agricultural land, not registering temporary residence, temporary absence causing disorder in the locality, Duc Hoa District People's Committee assigned the district police to coordinate with professional departments, local functional agencies to take action. The verification results revealed the truth: Most of the children living in Mrs. Cuc's household were accompanied by their mothers, not homeless children.

Ms. Cao Thi Cuc and her family members work with the authorities.

During the inspection in early 2020, Ms. Cuc's household had 18 people residing there, including 6 children whose biological mothers were also temporarily residing there but whose fathers were unknown. This place also took advantage of the name of a place of worship, belief, and spirituality to raise orphans and homeless children to call for help from people at home and abroad for personal gain.

Always pretending to be "Grandpa's Teacher", teacher "Thich Tam Duc" and claiming that Bong Lai is a temple, anyone who wants to enter must ring the bell, with the consent of the people in the temple, but when facing the authorities, Mr. Le Tung Van said: "This is not a temple, not a religious facility..."

However, immediately after being dealt with by the authorities, Ms. Cuc and Mr. Van continued to direct people here to create many other personal pages on social networks to attract viewers and supporters.

On January 5, Duc Hoa District Police issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute Mr. Le Tung Van, and temporarily detain Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen (born in 1990), Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen (born in 1991), and Le Thanh Tung Duong (born in 1995, all residing in Hoa Khanh Tay Commune, Duc Hoa District, Long An Province) for the crime of Abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, organizations, and individuals under Article 331 of the Penal Code.

At the police station, Nhat Nguyen, Hoan Nguyen, and Tung Duong always beat around the bush, avoiding the heart of the case and hardly answering any of the investigators' questions. When they did open their mouths, they only said "wait for our lawyers to come and answer."

It took a lot of time and faced with the lack of cooperation of the defendants, but the investigators collected a lot of solid evidence. In addition, the police agency also consolidated enough evidence of the crime to issue a decision to prosecute, temporarily detain, and search the residence of Ms. Cao Thi Cuc.

Police searched the residence of Ms. Cao Thi Cuc.

Before being prosecuted, the defendants at Bong Lai Monastery had a clear division of labor. Accordingly, Mr. Le Tung Van was the final decision maker, Ms. Cao Thi Cuc, as the head of the household, was also the person who kept all the money donated and supported by organizations and individuals, and kept the books to spend according to Mr. Van's instructions.

Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen and Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen were assigned to take photos and shoot clips to edit and add content that was not in accordance with the guidelines of the law and the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, then give them to Mr. Van for censorship before posting them on social media. Some clips that this group posted online created an environment for reactionaries to jump in to slander, defame, and sabotage the government.

Typically, on September 9 and October 5, 2019, Hoa Khanh Tay Commune Police received a "Request for Resolution" from Mr. Vo Van Thang and his wife, Ms. Doan Thi Tuyet Mai (residing in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City) regarding their daughter Vo Thi Diem My leaving home on September 7, 2019.

According to verification, Diem My is acquainted with Le Thanh Huyen Tran (born in 2002, a member of Tinh That Bong Lai). My was invited by Ms. Tran to visit Ms. Cao Thi Cuc's house and did not return, so on September 25, 2019, the Hoa Khanh Tay Commune Police inspected but did not discover Vo Thi Diem My temporarily residing there. Immediately after this inspection, Ms. Cao Thi Cuc filed a complaint with the police agency denouncing Mr. Thang and his wife for illegally trespassing on her home and the loss of nearly 300 million VND in money and property.

To clarify the content of the complaints between Ms. Cuc and Mr. Thang and his wife and vice versa, on December 12, 2019, Duc Hoa District Police invited Ms. Cao Thi Cuc and Ms. Vo Thi Diem My with Mr. Vo Van Thang and his wife to work. When the police asked Ms. Cuc to hand over Ms. Vo Thi Diem My to Mr. Thang's family to take home for treatment, Ms. Cuc, Mr. Van and 6 others caused trouble. Among them, Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen and Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen continuously filmed, took pictures and shouted that the district police had kidnapped and made Diem My disappear, and that Ms. Diem My's family would come to kill them... Mr. Van even pretended to have a heart attack and lay down on a chair in front of the police station lobby to shout and slander.

Ms. Cuc's construction was illegally built on agricultural land.

In response to the above violations, Duc Hoa District Police asked the group to delete all videos, not to film or take photos in the office, and invited them out. After leaving, the group continued to make false accusations, gathered in large numbers, and obstructed traffic, so the district police had to dispatch forces to ensure security and order and explain to everyone. At noon, the group agreed to return to Ms. Cuc's house.

The very next day, people in Mrs. Cuc's household posted videos and articles on social networks (Facebook, YouTube) accusing Duc Hoa District Police of kidnapping and making Diem My go missing; accusing Diem My's family of coming to kill them; inciting the online community and the masses to go to Mr. Thang's house to rescue and reclaim Diem My for Mrs. Cuc's household. The clips accusing the police posted online have helped opportunists and some reactionary elements at home and abroad take advantage of them to defame and sabotage the government.

According to People's Police