29-7-2023 (HANOI) A Vietnamese court delivered significant sentences to high-ranking officials and businesspeople implicated in bribery and corruption cases related to repatriation flights during the COVID-19 pandemic. The trial, which spanned over two weeks in Hanoi, marked a significant part of the nation’s anti-graft campaign, resulting in the unexpected resignation of former president Nguyen Xuan Phuc earlier this year – an unprecedented development in a country where political transitions are typically well-choreographed.
In the verdict issued on Friday, a total of 54 officials and businesspeople were found guilty of various offenses, including receiving, offering, or acting as intermediaries for bribes, perpetrating fraud, and abusing their positions of authority. The judges handed life sentences to four former senior officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, health, and public security. Meanwhile, ten businesspeople and civilians received suspended sentences.
Reports revealed that the total amount of bribes involved in this case amounted to US$9.5 million. The court remarked that the bribe money was exceptionally substantial, far exceeding the average income of civil servants.
Among the high-ranking officials sentenced were To Anh Dung, former deputy minister of foreign affairs; Nguyen Quang Linh, former assistant to the deputy prime minister; and Pham Trung Kien, the ex-secretary to the deputy health minister. Kien received a life sentence for receiving 253 bribes totaling US$1.8 million over an 11-month period.
Dung, during the trial, confessed to accepting nearly US$910,000 in bribes, primarily at his office within the foreign ministry in Hanoi. He was sentenced to 16 years in jail. Dung asserted that he believed he was merely facilitating companies to bring back Vietnamese citizens from abroad and didn’t perceive his actions as wrongdoing at the time.
The repatriation flights in question were organized by Vietnam in early 2020 when the country closed its borders to curb the spread of COVID-19. The nation conducted nearly 800 charter flights to bring citizens home from 60 countries and territories. However, the process was reportedly marred by complicated procedures, exorbitant airfares, and quarantine fees, as indicated by official and social media reports.
The court deemed that the former officials abused their positions of power during the pandemic for personal gain, which severely impacted the reputation of state agencies and sectors and elicited public anger and eroded people’s trust.
Throughout the trial, Hoang Dieu Mo, a businesswoman accused of giving bribes to eight officials, testified that no one explicitly asked her for money at the foreign ministry. However, she claimed that bribes were necessary for securing approval and permissions to ensure timely flights. Mo was sentenced to seven years in jail.
One mother in Hanoi shared her experience of spending up to US$12,000 to repatriate her teenage daughter from a European boarding school during the height of the pandemic. She expressed frustration over not knowing how her money was used or divided among the officials involved, stressing the need for severe punishment for their actions.
