Trial of former Director of Quang Ninh Department of Education and Training and accomplices

The trial took place under the direction of Judge Ta Duy Uoc, the presiding judge of the trial. According to the indictment, from 2016 to 2019, the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh, with defendant Vu Lien Oanh as Director, prepared 6 submissions with request documents and received approval from the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province to establish the project. The People's Committee also approved the budget and approved the capital source for the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh as the investor to implement 6 projects to invest in educational equipment for kindergartens and primary schools in the area with a total value of 6 projects of more than 600 billion VND.

Because she knew defendant Vu Lien Oanh before, in early 2016, when she learned about the policy of investing in educational equipment invested by the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh province, Ms. Hoang Thi Thuy Nga, Chairwoman of the Founding Council of the New Success Journey Group Limited Liability Company (NSJ Group) met with Ms. Oanh to discuss letting Ms. Nga's companies win bids to supply educational equipment to the Department at prices set by Ms. Nga in advance and with Ms. Oanh's consent.

After that, Ms. Oanh introduced and directed Mr. Ngo Vui (former Head of Financial Planning Department, Quang Ninh Department of Education and Training) and his subordinates to coordinate with Ms. Nga and NSJ Company's employees to carry out the procedures for establishing, implementing the project, and organizing the bidding. Mr. Ngo Vui assigned his subordinates to contact and work with Ms. Nga and the NSJ Company's staff to conduct a survey to establish the project and the project procedures. Ms. Nga assigned NSJ Company's staff to coordinate with Mr. Ngo Vui, Ha Huy Long (former Deputy Head of Financial Planning Department, Quang Ninh Department of Education and Training), Pham Thi Hanh (former Deputy Head of Financial Planning Department, Quang Ninh Department of Education and Training) to implement the bidding packages; prepare documents for the "blue team, red team"; direct the Goods Department of NSJ Company to contact manufacturers and intermediary companies to increase the price of educational equipment from abroad before importing to Vietnam.

To avoid detection that NSJ Company was both a project consultant and a bidding participant, Hoang Thi Thuy Nga and Vu Lien Oanh discussed and agreed to appoint VNNew Technology Development Limited Company (founded and managed by Ms. Nga) as a project consultant, to report on the feasibility study and legalize the bidding documents for all 6/6 educational equipment procurement packages; to appoint AIC Investment and Valuation Joint Stock Company (AIC Company) and Gia Loc Valuation Consulting Limited Company as the valuation units to issue valuation certificates according to the prices predetermined by Hoang Thi Thuy Nga.

The purpose of the above act is to ensure that NSJ Company and the joint ventures NSJ - Toan Thinh - Trang An (in which Ms. Nga borrowed the legal entity) win the bid through open bidding.

Authorities determined that defendant Vu Lien Oanh's act of abusing his position and power to illegally intervene in bidding activities caused losses to the state budget of more than VND 80 billion in two bidding packages in 2019.

According to the indictment, after creating all conditions for businesses to collude, inflate prices and win the above bids, defendant Vu Lien Oanh and two subordinates received a total of 30.16 billion VND from NSJ Company and Hoang Thi Thuy Nga. Specifically, from the end of 2016 to the beginning of 2020, before Tet, after completing each project, Nga directly or directed employees to bribe Ms. Vu Lien Oanh 14 billion VND; Mr. Ngo Vui 14.8 billion VND. Regarding Ha Huy Long, in addition to 1.36 billion VND received from Nga, this defendant also received 495 million VND from Vu Duy Minh, Director of VNNew Company.

During the investigation and prosecution, defendants Ngo Vui and Ha Huy Long were assessed to have confessed honestly and actively remedied the consequences by returning the entire amount of the violation.

Considered to have played a key role in the case, defendant Vu Lien Oanh also confessed honestly, actively cooperated with the investigation agency and voluntarily used seized assets to remedy the consequences of the case.

Before the People's Court of Quang Ninh province conducted the trial, defendant Hoang Thi Thuy Nga was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the High People's Court in Hanoi in the case of "Bidding Violation" in Dong Nai province, and the People's Court of Can Tho city sentenced her to 8 years in prison for "Bidding Violation" at the Department of Health of this province. The total sentence for Ms. Nga is 20 years in prison.

The trial is scheduled to last until October 12.