On the afternoon of October 27, after a lengthy deliberation, the People's Court of An Giang province reopened the first-instance criminal trial, sentencing six defendants involved in the smuggling of nearly 3 kg of gold from Cambodia to Vietnam.
Accordingly, defendant Nguyen Thanh Binh (58 years old, gold shop owner, residing in Long Xuyen City, An Giang) was sentenced to 9 years in prison; Trang Kien Cuong (47 years old, residing in Chau Doc City, An Giang) 12 years in prison; Phan Hung (40 years old, residing in Chau Phu District, An Giang) 10 years in prison; Nguyen Binh Minh (51 years old, residing in An Phu District, An Giang) 8 years in prison; Le Van Phi (32 years old) and Le Van Hau (21 years old, both residing in Chau Doc City) each received 7 years in prison, all for smuggling.
6 defendants in the group smuggling nearly 3 kg of gold were sentenced by the People's Court of An Giang province to a total of 53 years in prison for smuggling.
According to the indictment, in early November 2021, Trang Kien Cuong met Nguyen Thanh Binh to offer to sell smuggled gold. Cuong said this was gold bought from Tuot in Cambodia, so Binh agreed to buy. According to the agreement, Cuong sold Binh 3 kg of gold at a time, at a price of 58,300 - 58,900 USD/kg. Binh asked Cuong to make the transaction in a deserted place in Long Xuyen City to avoid detection.
To have gold to sell, Cuong asked Phan Hung to buy USD from Binh to transport to Cambodia to buy gold and sell it to Binh for profit. The amount of money each person contributed was equivalent to about 2 billion VND, enough to buy 1.5 kg of gold per person. After Hung agreed, Cuong contacted a man named Tuot in Cambodia to negotiate the purchase of gold.
Defendant Nguyen Thanh Binh, owner of a gold shop in Long Xuyen City, was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
Hung contacted Le Van Phi to hire Phi to transport USD from Vietnam to Cambodia for Tuot and bring Tuot's gold from Cambodia to Chau Doc City to deliver to Cuong and Hung. For each trip, Hung paid Phi 150 USD/kg of gold transported. From then on, Phi invited his younger brother Le Van Hau to join in illegally transporting money and gold from Vietnam to Cambodia for Cuong and Hung's group. For each trip to Cambodia to smuggle gold back to Vietnam, Phi gave Hau 500,000 VND. After receiving the gold from Phi and Hau, Cuong brought it from Chau Doc City to Long Xuyen City to sell to Binh.
In total, Cuong and Hung have bought and sold gold 8 times, in which, from the 6th trip onwards, Cuong divided 0.5 kg of gold for each trip with Nguyen Binh Minh. From each successful trip, Cuong's group earned 450 USD/3 kg of gold.
On the 8th illegal gold trading trip on January 10, 2022, while Cuong and Binh were exchanging and buying 3 kg of illegal gold in Long Xuyen City, they were arrested by the An Giang Provincial Police. The seized exhibits after valuation included 3 gold bars weighing nearly 3 kg (nearly 80 taels), with a total value of more than 4.1 billion VND, 21,000 USD, along with some related evidence. On January 18, 2022, Binh, Cuong, Minh, Hung, Hau, and Phi were prosecuted for investigation.
Defendant Trang Kien Cuong (right) testified at the trial.
During the trial held on October 23 and 24, Nguyen Thanh Binh initially denied buying and selling gold illegally with Trang Kien Cuong's group. However, with convincing evidence collected by the investigation agency and the testimony of other defendants in court, Binh admitted to buying gold illegally from Cuong's group.
In addition to the prison sentence for smuggling mentioned above, the An Giang Provincial People's Court also imposed an additional fine of VND100 million on Binh, Cuong, and Hung each; and fined Minh VND50 million. At the same time, nearly 3 kg of gold; USD21,000 in evidence and a number of other evidence related to the case were confiscated into the state budget.
Quick view 8pm: Panoramic news on October 27
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