As reported by VietNamNet, the investigation conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency showed that Mr. Nguyen Loc An, former Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) received a bribe of 14.2 billion VND from Bach Khoa Viet Company and Long Hung Company.

According to the investigation, after receiving 200 million VND from Ms. Tran Thi Loan Phuong (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bach Khoa Viet Company), Mr. An suggested that Ms. Phuong spend 9 billion VND to buy a villa. After giving a bribe of 9.2 billion VND to the former deputy department head, Ms. Phuong proactively filed a complaint against Mr. Nguyen Loc An for accepting bribes.

Regarding this matter, the Investigation Agency believes that Ms. Phuong's actions constituted the crime of Bribery, as stipulated in Clause 4, Article 364 of the Penal Code. However, when the Investigation Agency did not have information or documents about Ms. Phuong giving money to Mr. An, Ms. Phuong was aware of her wrongdoing and proactively filed a complaint against Mr. Nguyen Loc An's criminal behavior.

The Investigation Agency assessed that Ms. Phuong confessed honestly, repented, and actively cooperated with the Investigation Agency to clarify the nature of the case. Therefore, based on the provisions of Clause 7, Article 364 of the Penal Code, applying Resolution 03/2020/NQ-HDTP dated December 30, 2020 of the Supreme People's Court's Judicial Council, exempted Ms. Phuong from criminal liability, and confiscated the entire amount of 9.2 billion VND of bribery to the State budget.

d 1724833729220 1249.jpg
Mr. Nguyen Loc An. Photo: Ministry of Public Security

Based on the content of Ms. Phuong's complaint, the Investigation Police Department struggled to get Ms. Nguyen Kim Ngoc (Mr. An's wife) to voluntarily provide a bank account statement, showing that Ms. Phuong transferred 9 billion VND.

The investigation agency also clarified that Mr. An not only suggested Ms. Phuong spend money to buy a villa, but the former deputy head of the department also suggested Mr. Nguyen Tuan Quynh (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Long Hung Company) with similar content.

Investigation results show that in mid-2014, Mr. Quynh contacted Mr. Nguyen Loc An, asking him to guide him through the procedures to obtain a license to export and import petroleum. At that time, Mr. An agreed to help and create conditions for Long Hung Company to obtain a license to export and import petroleum.

Afterwards, when conducting the inspection of the conditions for granting a business license to export and import gasoline for Long Hung Company, the inspection team led by Mr. An only checked the documents and randomly inspected a number of gasoline stores and agents of Long Hung Company.

However, on January 27, 2015, the Inspection Team and Long Hung Company still signed a record of the actual inspection of the conditions for granting business licenses for exporting and importing gasoline.

On February 2, 2015, Mr. An signed a document to present to Mr. Do Thang Hai (then Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade), and then Mr. Hai signed a business license to import and export gasoline for Long Hung Company.

In July 2015, when meeting Mr. Quynh in Hanoi, Mr. An confided that he was interested in buying a house at the Vuon Dao auction area (Tay Ho district, Hanoi). About 2 months later, Mr. Quynh came to Mr. An's house for dinner and Mr. An continued to mention buying a house and asked Mr. Quynh to support him with 10 billion VND to buy real estate.

Because Mr. An helped and created conditions for Long Hung Company, and Mr. An had the authority to check the conditions and request the revocation of Long Hung Company's petroleum export and import business license at any time, Mr. Quynh agreed to support and then transferred 10 billion VND to Mr. An's wife's account.

Later, when Mr. Quynh's wife found out about the incident, she objected to her husband's actions, forcing Mr. Quynh to discuss with Mr. An that Long Hung Company only spent 5 billion VND. Therefore, Mr. An transferred 5 billion VND back to Mr. Quynh.

In this case, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Quynh (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Long Hung Company) was proposed to be prosecuted for the crime of Bribery.