Rescue flight case: 3 defendants sentenced to life in prison, defendant Hoang Van Hung sentenced to 20 years in prison

Three defendants sentenced to life in prison

Notably, the Court of Appeal did not accept the appeal and upheld the first instance sentence for the defendants: Pham Trung Kien (former official of the Ministry of Health) to life in prison for "Accepting bribes"; Nguyen Thi Huong Lan (former Director of the Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to life in prison for "Accepting bribes"; Vu Anh Tuan (former official of the Immigration Department, Ministry of Public Security) to life in prison for "Accepting bribes"; Vu Sy Cuong (former official of the Immigration Department, Ministry of Public Security) to 9 years in prison for "Accepting bribes"; Tran Minh Tuan (Director of Thai Hoa Company) to 18 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Giving bribes"; Pham Bich Hang (Deputy Director of International Tourism Limited Company) to 20 months in prison for "Giving bribes".

According to the Court of Appeal, the defendants Pham Trung Kien, Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, Vu Anh Tuan, and Vu Sy Cuong were those who received bribes many times, with very large or especially large amounts of money, causing outrage in society, negatively affecting the implementation of the State's humanitarian policies and the image of the cadres and civil servants, so a severe penalty is needed to have an educational effect, deterrence, and prevention of this dangerous crime, meeting the requirements of fighting, preventing, and combating corruption in the current period.

Defendant Tran Minh Tuan appropriated a huge amount of money, the defendant also committed 2 crimes, did not admit the act, and denied the crime. Defendant Pham Bich Hang gave bribes many times, with a total amount of more than 1.1 billion VND. The Court of First Instance has determined and assessed the nature, level of the crime, the consequences of the crime, and the defendant's role and responsibility in the case as well-founded. In the process of considering the decision on the penalty, the Court of First Instance also considered the context, circumstances, and conditions of the crime; the defendant's personal background and the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of the defendant's criminal responsibility.

"The nature of the case is very serious, the defendant's actions play a major role. Therefore, there is no basis to accept the appeal of the defendants Pham Trung Kien, Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, Vu Anh Tuan, Vu Sy Cuong, Tran Minh Tuan, Pham Bich Hang regarding the punishment" - the Court of Appeal stated.

The Court of Appeal reduced the sentences for the defendants: To Anh Dung (former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs) to 14 years in prison (first instance sentence of 16 years in prison) for the crime of "Receiving bribes"; Do Hoang Tung (former Deputy Director of the Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to 10 years in prison (first instance sentence of 12 years in prison) for the crime of "Receiving bribes"; Tran Van Tan (former Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam province) to 5 years in prison (first instance sentence of 6 years in prison) for the crime of "Receiving bribes".

Regarding the defendants who committed the crime of “Accepting bribes”, including To Anh Dung, Do Hoang Tung, and Tran Van Tan, at the appeal hearing, the defendants continued to show sincere confessions, repentance, and presented new documents. From there, the Appeal Court decided to reduce the sentences for the defendants.

Regarding the group of defendants convicted of "Bribery", the Court of Appeal reduced the sentences for the defendants: Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang (Deputy General Director of Blue Sky Company) to 9 years in prison (first instance sentence of 11 years in prison); Le Hong Son (General Director of Blue Sky Company) to 8 years in prison (first instance sentence of 10 years in prison); Hoang Dieu Mo (General Director of An Binh Company) to 6 years and 6 months in prison (first instance sentence of 7 years in prison); Vo Thi Hong (Director of Minh Ngoc Company) to 3 years in prison (first instance sentence of 4 years in prison); Le Van Nghia (former Director of Nhat Minh Company) to 27 months in prison (first instance sentence of 3 years in prison); Tran Thi Mai Xa (Director of MasterLife Company) to 30 months in prison (first instance sentence of 3 years in prison); Le Thi Ngoc Anh (former officer of the Party Central Committee's Foreign Affairs Department) to 30 months in prison (first instance sentence of 3 years in prison). Defendant Pham Thi Kim Ngan (officer of Thanh Tra Magazine) received a sentence of 13 months in prison (first instance verdict 15 months in prison) for the crime of "Bribery brokerage".

According to the Court of Appeal, the defendants committed the crime of bribery partly due to the difficulties caused by the defendants who are officials and civil servants in state agencies; they are victims of the "request-grant mechanism", in order to encourage bribe givers to report crimes, reflect the state of harassment by officials and civil servants in state agencies, the sentences for the defendants can be reduced. On the other hand, the defendants confessed honestly, actively cooperated with the competent authorities in the process of resolving the case, the amount of bribe was not large, and they voluntarily returned all or most of the amount of money that was recovered. Therefore, based on the assessment of the nature and extent of the crime, personal background, attitude towards law enforcement, level of danger to society, for the sake of humanitarian policy, the Court of Appeal found it necessary to partially accept the appeal of the defendants.

The Court of Appeal gave three defendants suspended sentences, including: Nguyen Hoang Linh (former officer of the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia) 30 months suspended sentence; Dang Minh Phuong (former Accountant of the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia) 18 months suspended sentence; Tran Quoc Tuan (Director of Vietnam Tourism Trade Promotion Company) 3 years suspended sentence.

The defendants whose sentences were reduced had new circumstances, had resolved the consequences of the case; had many certificates of merit, medals, and requests for leniency from units...

Defendant Hoang Van Hung's sentence was reduced from life to 20 years in prison.

Another defendant whose sentence was also reduced was Hoang Van Hung (former investigator of the Ministry of Public Security) from life to 20 years in prison for "fraudulent appropriation of property". At the appeal hearing, defendant Hoang Van Hung admitted to his crime, "showed remorse" and recovered the entire 18.8 billion VND in fraudulent appropriation of property.

Defendant Hoang Van Hung confirmed the change in the content of his appeal from November 28, 2023, admitting that the crime was charged by the Court of First Instance with fraud and appropriation of property in the amount of 800,000 USD (more than 18.8 billion VND). The defendant requested the Court of Appeal to consider the case thoroughly, objectively, and comprehensively, and to sentence the defendant to a reasonable penalty, so that the defendant can soon return to his family and society. "The defendant feels very sorry for such a violation. The defendant used to be a party member and a police officer, so regardless of the reason or cause, he still feels responsible for the violation, so he actively influenced his family to compensate the entire amount of money that was recovered" - defendant Hung stated at the appeal hearing.

From there, the Court of Appeal noted that the defendant Hung admitted to the crime; actively influenced his family to pay the entire amount of money that had been collected, the obligation to pay the first instance criminal court fees; the defendant's family had contributed to the revolution, the defendant had two paternal uncles who were martyrs, confirmed by the local authorities. Therefore, the Court of Appeal found sufficient grounds to apply the mitigating circumstances of criminal responsibility stipulated in points b, s, clause 1, clause 2, Article 51 of the 2015 Penal Code to the defendant Hoang Van Hung.

Although the two defendants, Tran Viet Thai (former Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia) and Nguyen Anh Tuan (former Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police), did not appeal at the appeal hearing, the Trial Panel considered the circumstances, work achievements, and the process of clarifying and resolving the case, so they reduced their sentences.

Defendant Tran Viet Thai (former Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia) has overcome the consequences of the case, has many achievements in work, actively cooperated with the Investigation Agency to clarify the case, and the defendant's family has contributed to the revolution.

Defendant Nguyen Anh Tuan presented documents showing that he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer; his family had contributed to the revolution; and he himself had many achievements during his work.

In the case, defendant Hoang Van Hung twice received from Nguyen Anh Tuan the amount of 800,000 USD (more than 18.8 billion VND), which he appropriated from Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang and Le Hong Son. Up to now, defendant Hoang Van Hung has admitted his crime and returned all the money he appropriated, so the nature and seriousness of defendant Nguyen Anh Tuan's crime have also significantly decreased.

The Court of Appeal sentenced defendant Tran Viet Thai (former Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia) to 3 years in prison (first instance sentence of 4 years in prison) for the crime of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties"; Nguyen Anh Tuan to 4 years in prison (first instance sentence of 5 years in prison) for the crime of "Bribery brokerage".