Prosecution of 254 defendants in violations at the Vietnam Register and related units

The City People's Procuracy prosecuted the defendants for the following crimes: "Giving bribes", "Receiving bribes", "Brokering bribes", "Forgery in work", "Producing, trading, exchanging or giving away software for illegal purposes", "Illegal intrusion into computer networks, telecommunications networks or electronic devices of others", "Forging seals and documents of agencies and organizations", "Using fake documents of agencies and organizations", "Fraudulent appropriation of property", "Embezzlement of property" and "Abusing position and power while performing official duties".

In particular, defendant Tran Ky Hinh (former Director of the Vietnam Register from January 2014 to July 2021) was prosecuted for "Receiving bribes" and "Abusing position and power while performing official duties"; Dang Viet Ha (former Director of the Vietnam Register) and 132 accomplices were prosecuted for "Receiving bribes".

The investigation determined that this was a case of corruption, position, and economics of an especially large scale and caused particularly serious damage in the field of state management of motor vehicle and inland waterway vehicle inspection activities that occurred over a long period of time and systematically. The violations occurred at the Vietnam Register and motor vehicle inspection centers, inland waterway vehicle inspection sub-departments, motor vehicle inspection departments, and river vessel departments in a number of localities.

The defendants are leaders of the Department of Registration, departments, centers, and branches of registration in some localities who have issued policies and unified instructions to subordinate inspectors, employees working at centers and branches receiving money from vehicle owners to conduct inspections, appraise design documents, and need to be issued with factory capacity notices... to ignore errors, ignore conditions on quality, technical safety, labor safety, environmental protection...

The act of bribing in bidding when providing motor vehicle inspection lines at inspection centers, ignoring procedures and requirements when conducting bidding, in order to win the bid in violation of the law, carried out by Viet Net Limited Liability Company, related to an inspection center in Ho Chi Minh City and 2 inspection centers in Yen Bai and Quang Binh provinces, the centers in other provinces and cities, were separated and handled according to authority.

Among the 254 defendants prosecuted by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Procuracy, many are key leaders in the industry such as Tran Ky Hinh and Dang Viet Ha, former Director of the Vietnam Register; many defendants are department heads, directors, and deputy directors of centers; many defendants have high professional qualifications, expertise, knowledge, and experience in the assigned fields of work. The defendants were assigned to inspect and supervise safety conditions for motor vehicles and inland waterway vehicles, but for personal gain and motives, they did not properly perform their duties and responsibilities; directly affecting the lives and lives of people, and affecting the living environment of people.

With the leadership role of Dang Viet Ha, the defendants are the leaders of departments, directors of centers, along with a series of violations by other defendants in the case, causing particularly serious consequences, affecting social management order especially seriously. In particular, Tran Ky Hinh, former Director of the Vietnam Register (before August 2021) must bear criminal responsibility for accepting bribes of more than 7.1 billion VND; Dang Viet Ha, Director of the Vietnam Register (from August 2021 to December 2022) must bear criminal responsibility for accepting bribes of more than 40.2 billion VND.

To date, the defendants in the case have voluntarily surrendered 46 billion VND in illegal profits (of which more than 7.8 billion VND was surrendered during the prosecution phase) and 113,000 USD.

The case has more than 286 thousand records and the participation of more than 200 lawyers.