13-7-2023 (HANOI) Former Deputy Director of Hanoi Police Nguyen Anh Tuan admitted to being a middleman involved in a bribery case, claiming that he did it out of affection for his sworn sister. Tuan is accused of facilitating bribes totaling over 2.6 million USD in a case related to a rescue flight.
During the morning session on July 13, Tuan, who is charged with the offense of bribery mediation, repeatedly expressed his deep affection for Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang, Deputy General Director of BlueSky Company, which led him to arrange a meeting between Hang and Hoang Van Hung, Chief of the Investigation Department of the Security Investigation Agency, Ministry of Public Security.
“I deeply regret my actions. It was only because of my excessive concern for others that I became involved in bribery mediation. I hope the Court considers granting me leniency,” Tuan choked back tears while speaking.
According to Tuan, at the end of January 2022, after the “rescue flight” case was initiated, Hang called him and asked for his assistance with related matters. Tuan considered Hang as his sister and felt a deep affection for her, which led him to contact Hung to seek help.
“At that time, Hung was the Chief of the Investigation Department, and he introduced himself as the lead investigator of the case, so he agreed to provide assistance. Therefore, I arranged a meeting between Hang and Hung for them to discuss,” Tuan explained.
Initially, Tuan claimed that he only intended to make a simple introduction and did not intend to become deeply involved. However, Hung prohibited Hang from directly contacting him, and all information exchanged between the two had to go through Tuan.
As the intermediary, Tuan feared that things would go wrong, so he arranged multiple face-to-face meetings between Hung and Hang. During these meetings, Tuan witnessed extensive discussions about Hang’s relationships with officials and how the bribery process would take place.
Following Hung’s instructions, Hang was supposed to make a voluntary confession to the Security Investigation Agency, sincerely admitting to all her actions in order to “clear Sơn’s name.” (Lê Hồng Sơn, CEO of BlueSky). Hung instructed Hang to write self-confessions acknowledging all her actions but without including any specific dates, which he would review in advance.
From February to July 2022, Tuan acted as the intermediary for Hang to meet with Hung approximately eight times to discuss how to present the most advantageous confession. During these meetings, Hung instructed Hang to take full responsibility to save Sơn, while Sơn would deny any knowledge and shift all blame onto Hang. During this period, Hung cited various reasons, such as the interim investigation, interdepartmental meetings, and operational meetings, to persuade Hang to provide financial contributions.
However, it was only around the end of August 2022 that the investigative agency determined that Sơn owned 70% of the company and, as CEO, had the perspective that “Sơn must be arrested.” At Tuan’s house, Hung asked Hang, “Are you determined to save Sơn?”
“Witnessing this meeting, I reminded Hang to carefully consider the situation. The determination here refers to financial determination rather than just empty slogans. I did not express any opinions and only advised on both sides,” Tuan testified in court this morning.
In September 2022, Hung was reassigned and no longer involved in the investigation of the case. However, he continued to meet Hang and constantly urged her to provide more money, claiming that “the public prosecutor’s office was under significant pressure.” At the end of November 2022, Hang again entrusted Tuan to deliver 350,000 USD to Hung as a bribe to “arrange things with the public prosecutor’s office, as requested by Hung.” However, Hung told Tuan that he had received “only half” of the money, so he asked Hang to prepare an additional 450,000 USD.
“Hung stated that out of this amount, 350,000 USD was given to the public prosecutor’s office, and the remaining 100,000 USD was given to the senior leadership of the public prosecutor’s office. After receiving the 450,000 USD from Hang, I divided it into two bags and placed them in a leather bag with the number 104, which I then handed over to Hung on the morning of December 5, 2022,” Tuan’s testimony matched the allegations.
Tuan admitted that in 2022, Hang and Sơn’s group had given a total of 2.65 million USD, equivalent to 61.6 billion VND, to Hung through him. Deducting the retained 400,000 USD, Tuan had given the remaining 2.25 million USD to Hung each time Hang sent money.
Upon rising for confrontation, Hang burst into tears and said, “Tuan’s statements are true.” She admitted to having spent money on “resolving the case” for Hung through Tuan, as alleged.
Returning to the courtroom after being isolated for two days while other defendants made their statements, Hung claimed to have met Hang at Hung’s house only four times and had no discussions or references to the case, nor any mention of “resolving the case” or bribery.
Specifically, the first meeting took place after the Lunar New Year in 2022, just 10 days after the case was initiated, when Hung visited Tuan’s house upon Tuan’s invitation. Tuan mentioned his “sworn sister,” Hang, who was involved in the BlueSky case, and asked about the situation. Hung responded, “It’s best to encourage a voluntary confession because the investigation into the case is at a deadlock. The case alleges bribery, but there is no evidence, only an investigation through deduction, so we need someone like her to make a confession.” When Hung stood up to leave, Hang, who had just stepped out of the house, greeted him briefly, exchanging only a few words in a process that lasted less than five minutes.
In the three subsequent meetings, Hung visited Tuan’s house at Tuan’s invitation, and Hang was already present. During these meetings, the three discussed Hang’s voluntary confession and the content of the confession. During those meetings, Hung claimed to have only “encouraged” the sincere confession to obtain leniency and “never mentioned money.”
“After the meetings, Hang left, and I stayed with Tuan. He asked if I needed anything, but I told him that we are colleagues and he is my superior, so he knows well that she is confessing to save herself. Tuan promised to support me in the future when he is promoted,” Hung testified in court.
Referring to the previous statements made by Tuan and Hang regarding repeatedly urging them to “resolve the case by having money” and requesting Hang to provide money for bribery with the judicial authorities, the presiding judge asked Hung, “Is it true?” The former investigator, Hung, immediately replied, “Oh no, it’s not true. It’s not like that at all. At that time, she had already made a confession, so there was no need to give any more money.”
Regarding the receipt of the bag labeled 104 containing 450,000 USD prepared by Tuan, Hung confirmed that it contained four bottles of alcohol, not money.
The trial is ongoing with further questioning.
