In 2 days, the high court will hear the case of Mr. Tran Hung, who pleaded not guilty to bribery charges.

As scheduled, on January 22, the High People's Court in Hanoi will reopen the appeal hearing of the extremely large-scale counterfeit textbook trafficking case involving Mr. Tran Hung. The case has 18 out of 36 defendants filing appeals. In addition to Mr. Tran Hung, some other defendants have asked for reduced sentences and suspended sentences.

The trial was scheduled to open at the end of December 2023, but due to the absence of some defendants, witnesses and defense attorneys, it had to be postponed.

Defendant Tran Hung, former Head of Group 304, now Group 1444 (General Department of Market Management)

Appeal from beginning to end

This is a case that has received public attention. Because Mr. Tran Hung is known as an official who has made many strong statements in the field of market management. Throughout the process of resolving the case, Mr. Hung has consistently claimed his innocence. The prosecution agency has repeatedly returned the file, requesting additional investigation.

In July 2023, at the first instance trial, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced Mr. Tran Hung to 9 years in prison for accepting bribes. The other 35 defendants were sentenced to a minimum of 18 months in prison but given a suspended sentence, and a maximum of 10 years in prison, for the crimes of: manufacturing and trading in counterfeit goods; bribery brokerage; and abuse of position and power while performing official duties.

The first instance verdict determined that from the beginning of 2021 to June 2021, defendant Cao Thi Minh Thuan, Director of Phu Hung Phat Company, and her accomplices produced and stored a total of nearly 9.5 million fake textbooks with a total value of more than VND 260 billion. This group organized the sale of more than 6.3 million books.

Notably, before the fake textbook ring run by defendant Thuan was discovered, in July 2020, Phu Hung Phat Company was inspected by Market Management Team No. 17, seizing more than 27,300 fake textbooks. This incident was the origin of the crime that Mr. Tran Hung was accused of.

Accordingly, knowing that Mr. Tran Hung was the person directly in charge of handling the case, defendant Thuan, through defendant Nguyen Duy Hai (a freelancer), gave Mr. Hung 300 million VND to ask for help. After receiving the money, Mr. Tran Hung instructed defendant Thuan to change his statement about the origin of the books, and at the same time intervened and created conditions to handle the case as an administrative violation instead of transferring it to the investigation agency.

At the first instance trial, 35/36 defendants admitted to their crimes; including Cao Thi Minh Thuan and Nguyen Duy Hai, who were involved in giving money to Mr. Tran Hung. On the contrary, Mr. Tran Hung was the only one who claimed innocence from beginning to end. He affirmed that in his 10 years of working, "no one who traded in counterfeit goods could bribe me."

In this case, Mr. Tran Hung is the only defendant who claims innocence.

Debate on the time of giving and receiving bribes

Defending Mr. Tran Hung, the lawyer argued that the prosecution agency relied on Nguyen Duy Hai's contradictory testimony to charge his client, which was not objective. Moreover, Mr. Tran Hung had no authority to handle violations by Phu Hung Phat Company.

In particular, the lawyer cited data from the MobiFone network's signal towers, showing that at the time of the incident, Mr. Tran Hung was in Ba Dinh District (Hanoi), while defendant Hai was in Hoan Kiem District (Hanoi) and Hai Ba Trung District (Hanoi). This data proves that the two parties did not meet each other, so there could not have been a bribe.

However, in response to the lawyer's point of view, the representative of the prosecutor's office denied everything. The trial panel also stated that Mr. Tran Hung was the Head of Team 304, responsible for receiving information on violations, advising the Director General of the General Department of Market Management, and coordinating with relevant units in inspecting and handling violations.

When the Phu Hung Phat Company case was discovered, Cao Thi Minh Thuan contacted Mr. Tran Hung for help. Mr. Hung set a condition that he would release the female director if she pointed out other violating establishments. Next, defendant Thuan, through defendant Hai, proposed to give money to defendant Hung.

After receiving 300 million VND, Mr. Tran Hung instructed defendant Thuan to change his statement about the origin of the books, from fake books to books consigned by others; at the same time, he directed Market Management Team No. 17 to handle the case in the direction that defendant Thuan changed his statement. The case should have been transferred to the investigation agency, but only an administrative penalty was imposed.

According to the court of first instance, although Nguyen Duy Hai's testimony was different about the time of giving the money, it was shown throughout that defendant Thuan, through defendant Hai, gave the money to defendant Hung. The money giving took place at defendant Hung's office.

In addition, the testimony of defendant Hai is consistent with the testimony of witnesses, the testimony of defendant Thuan and related people, consistent with the results of the investigation experiment as well as the diagram of the scene where the money was given, drawn by defendant Hai himself.

Regarding data related to the telephone signal tower, the trial panel cited the presentation of MobiFone's representative, showing that this data alone is not enough basis to determine that at the time of the incident, defendant Hung was in Ba Dinh District.

With the above grounds, the first instance trial panel affirmed that the defendant Tran Hung was not wrongly convicted.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/2-ngay-nua-toa-cap-cao-xu-vu-ong-tran-hung-keu-oan-toi-nhan-hoi-lo-185240120140743021.htm