17 defendants prosecuted in the second phase of the rescue flight

The Supreme People's Procuracy has just issued an indictment in the case of 'Receiving bribes; giving bribes; taking advantage of positions and powers while performing official duties and concealing crimes' occurring in Thai Nguyen and a number of provinces and cities.

Accordingly, the Supreme People's Procuracy prosecuted 17 defendants on four charges: Receiving bribes; giving bribes; taking advantage of positions and powers while performing official duties; and concealing crimes.

Among them, defendant Tran Tung (former Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province) was prosecuted for two crimes including "receiving bribes" and "abusing position and power while performing official duties".

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

The 10 defendants prosecuted for the act of "giving bribes" include: Vu Hong Quang (former Deputy Head of the Department of Air Transport, Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Ministry of Transport); Tran Thanh Nha (residing in Ho Chi Minh City); Vu Hoang Dung (residing in Hanoi); Nguyen Manh Cuong (Head of E-commerce Department of Vietjet Aviation Trading Joint Stock Company); Dang Nhat Duc (Director of Top Agent Japan Co., Ltd); Bui Dang Khoa (Director of World Travel One Member Co., Ltd); Truong Thi My Dung (Director of Anh Sao Thien Tourism Service Trading One Member Co., Ltd); Pham Quoc Thang (Director of PNR Co., Ltd); Tran Thi Ngan (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Anna Travel Service and Trading Co., Ltd) and Tran Minh Phung (Director of Gia Huy Construction and Tourism Service and Trading Co., Ltd).

Based on collected documents, defendant Nguyen Xuan Thong (residing in Hanoi) was prosecuted for "concealing a crime".

According to the indictment, Tran Tung (former Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province) took advantage of his position and authority in advising and proposing to the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province to approve the quarantine policy in Thai Nguyen province, with the help of Tran Thi Quyen (Director of Sen Vang Dat Viet Trading and Service Company Limited), Tran Tung accepted bribes and took advantage of his position and authority while performing official duties for personal gain.

Regarding the defendants in Quang Nam, in his role as Deputy Director of the Department of Health of Quang Nam province, 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 Bluesky Company) in advising and proposing the People's Committee of Quang Nam province to issue a policy to accept citizens for medical quarantine in Quang Nam for Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang's Blue Sky Company.

According to the indictment, defendant Le Ngoc Tuong (former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam province) received bribes four times, totaling 400 million VND, to advise and propose that the People's Committee of Quang Nam province approve the policy of medical isolation for Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang's flights.

According to the indictment, Vu Hong Quang (former Deputy Head of the Air Transport Department, Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Ministry of Transport) was responsible for receiving and reviewing the Decision to grant 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. During the process of enterprises implementing "Combo" flights to bring citizens back to the country, there were some flights where enterprises could not rent large aircraft to carry all the approved number of passengers, so they had to rent two small planes, resulting in additional costs, while there were still empty seats. In order to gain more profit, Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang (Deputy Director of Bluesky Company) and Nguyen Tien Manh (Deputy Director of Viet Travel Company) discussed, negotiated and received Vu Hong Quang's approval to grant flight permits for the number of passengers exceeding the approved document at a cost of 2 million VND/passenger. Vu Hong Quang bribed more than 7.4 billion VND to influence and ask Pham Trung Kien to help obtain a document from the Steering Committee approving 624 citizens to return home on single flights, benefiting from more than 19.9 billion VND.