11-7-2023 (HANOI) Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tô Anh Dũng, former Deputy Assistant to the Prime Minister Nguyễn Quang Linh, former Consular Department Director Nguyễn Thị Hương Lan, and 41 other individuals were escorted to the court hearing of the “rescue flight” case this morning. During the procedural session, some individuals with relevant legal obligations requested to be tried in absentia. The Hanoi People’s Court determined that their absence would not affect the trial and would summon them if necessary.
The defendants stated that they had received the indictment prior to the trial and had no objections to the prosecuting authorities and the People’s Court.
The representative of the People’s Procuracy began to present the lengthy 102-page indictment. The cross-examination of the defendants is expected to begin this afternoon. The indictment establishes that starting from April 2020, the government permitted rescue flights to repatriate citizens, with individuals only required to pay for the airfare and not the quarantine costs. Subsequently, there were combo flights where citizens voluntarily covered the entire expenses.
Businesses seeking to organize combo flights had to obtain approval from the provincial or city People’s Committee responsible for isolating the returning citizens. The documentation was then sent to the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for consolidation and the opinions of the five ministries’ working group (Foreign Affairs, Public Security, Health, Transport, and National Defense) were sought.
From early 2020 to mid-2021, authorities granted permission for over 1,000 flights, bringing back more than 200,000 citizens from 62 countries and territories. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs alone proposed 772 flights to repatriate citizens, including 400 rescue flights and 372 combo flights.
To cover the “grease money” expenses incurred during the flights, a group of 20 businesses with over 100 legal entities inflated ticket prices and added various additional costs for customers returning to the country during the pandemic.
In addition to the bribery involved in organizing rescue flights, the People’s Procuracy identified a group of defendants who manipulated the system for businesses. Defendant Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, a former Major General and Deputy Director of the Hanoi Police Department, received $2.65 million (approximately 61.6 billion Vietnamese đồng) to manipulate the case for defendants Lê Hồng Sơn and Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hằng, CEO and Deputy CEO of the Blue Sky Company.
Tuấn claimed to have kept $400,000 and gave the remaining $2.25 million to defendant Hoàng Văn Hưng (former Chief of the Investigative Security Department, Ministry of Public Security) as Hằng transferred the money to him. According to the allegations, in this case, 21 defendants working in various state agencies abused their positions, powers, and entrusted duties to receive bribes totaling 165 billion Vietnamese đồng. Four individuals from the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia abused their positions, causing damages worth 10 billion Vietnamese đồng. Twenty-three representatives from businesses gave bribes nearly 500 times, amounting to over 226 billion Vietnamese đồng. Defendant Nguyễn Quang Linh, 49 years old, was accused of receiving bribes five times, totaling over 4.2 billion Vietnamese đồng, ranking ninth in terms of amount received in this case.
As a defendant holding an official position, Linh had the task of providing advice, proposing, and submitting flight plans for government leaders’ approval. Aware of Linh’s role, representatives of two businesses sought to approach him and requested his consideration and assistance in dealing with flight licensing procedures, enabling the two businesses to execute 26 flights.
During the proceedings, Linh and his family paid 2 billion Vietnamese đồng for restitution, leaving the remaining 4.47 billion Vietnamese đồng. According to the allegations, from December 5, 2020, to September 2021, defendant Hùng received bribes twice, totaling over 437 million Vietnamese đồng. Thai, 49 years old, served as the Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia from May 2020. From May 2020 to January 2022, the Vietnamese embassy organized 21 rescue flights, bringing back citizens who had completed their prison terms in Malaysia.
With fares ranging from 20-35 million Vietnamese đồng per person, including flight expenses and allowances for embassy staff, the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia collected over 4.3 trillion Vietnamese đồng. Thai directed the use of 33 billion Vietnamese đồng for organizing eight flights, while the remaining 10 billion Vietnamese đồng was collected beyond the approved amount and distributed among officials.
Thai was accused of benefiting from 580 million Vietnamese đồng, of which he paid 5.6 billion Vietnamese đồng in restitution. The remaining 5 billion Vietnamese đồng was used by officials at the embassy and subsequently returned. Thai was indicted for abuse of power in the performance of official duties. Former Deputy Prime Minister Chử Xuân Dũng, 59 years old, was escorted to the court along with other former high-ranking diplomats, police officers, and officials from the Ministry of Health. Unlike some defendants who lowered their heads or covered their faces with their hands, Dũng looked around when his name was called.
Dũng was accused of receiving bribes exceeding 2 billion Vietnamese đồng from two businesses. One business proactively sent representatives to meet Dũng, while the other business approached him through his sister-in-law.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hanoi People’s Committee assigned the Department of Health and the Department of External Relations as the focal points for receiving and providing recommendations for the city’s leaders to decide on the isolation of returning citizens. The application for flight permits sent to the Consular Department had to include a letter from the city’s People’s Committee approving the quarantine. Therefore, businesses established connections with Dũng to obtain this document, paying him 1-2 million Vietnamese đồng per passenger.
During the proceedings, Dũng and his family paid 1.7 billion Vietnamese đồng for restitution. Vũ Hồng Nam, the full-fledged Ambassador of Vietnam to Japan, was one of the first defendants escorted to the Supreme People’s Court in six police support vehicles.
Nam’s role as the Ambassador encompassed the function of protecting citizens. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan organized 57 rescue flights to bring citizens back to Vietnam. Nam subsequently identified the significant demand for repatriation and sent classified telegrams requesting additional flights, as determined by the investigation agency.
Nam was accused of accepting bribes totaling 1.8 billion Vietnamese đồng from two businesses. He subsequently paid back the entire amount to rectify the consequences. Nguyễn Thị Hương Lan, 49 years old, was accused of receiving bribes 32 times from eight business representatives, amounting to 25 billion Vietnamese đồng, ranking third among the defendants in terms of amount received.
Lan began accepting bribes from December 2020, while she was still serving as the Deputy Director of the Consular Department. Besides overseeing the department’s overall work in organizing rescue flights, she also reviewed the list of businesses involved in the flights, directly reporting to Deputy Minister Tô Anh Dũng for approval of documents proposing flights for these businesses.
During the interrogation, Lan mostly denied receiving money, claiming to have only accepted gift bags containing handbags, hats, and fruit baskets. She has paid 900 million Vietnamese đồng for restitution.
The trial is expected to last for 30 days at the Hanoi People’s Court, involving a larger number of summoned individuals than recent major cases. Among them are representatives from 19 commercial travel and service companies, 46 individuals with relevant legal obligations, and 33 witnesses. More than 100 lawyers have registered to defend the 54 defendants.
Of the 54 defendants, 21 were indicted for Bribery, 24 for Giving Bribes, 4 for Abuse of Power in the Performance of Official Duties, and 4 for Bribery Mediation.
The group of 21 defendants indicted for receiving bribes consists of former high-ranking officials from the Government Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Public Security, Hanoi People’s Committee, and Quang Nam Provincial People’s Committee. The individuals include Tô Anh Dũng, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Nguyễn Quang Linh, former Deputy Assistant to the Prime Minister; Chử Xuân Dũng, former Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee; Vũ Hồng Nam, former Ambassador of Vietnam to Japan; Nguyễn Thanh Hải, former Head of the International Relations Department of the Government Office; Nguyễn Thị Hương Lan, former Consular Department Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Vũ Ngọc Minh, former Ambassador of Vietnam to Angola…
The defendants were found to have received bribes over 500 times, totaling 165 billion Vietnamese đồng.
The trial began 18 months after the initial arrests of the first group of individuals affiliated with the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 28, 2022.
