On the morning of November 29, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court announced the verdict of the first-instance trial of the case that occurred at Xuyen Viet Oil Trading, Transport and Tourism Company Limited.
The People's Court sentenced defendant Le Duc Tho (former Secretary of Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee) to 15 years in prison for accepting bribes and 13 years in prison for taking advantage of his position and power to influence others for personal gain. The total sentence is 28 years in prison. In addition, the defendant must pay an additional fine of 100 million VND for each crime.
According to the panel of judges, defendant Le Duc Tho was the one who received the most bribes in the case, so a strict punishment was needed. However, the panel of judges also considered the context of the defendant's violations that occurred during his tenure as Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee. The defendant's actions were aimed at taking advantage of his relationship with Xuyen Viet Oil Company to promote local socio-economic development and create more jobs for the people.
Defendant Tho has now returned 34 billion VND of illegal profits, so the panel of judges considered reducing part of the sentence when sentencing.
Defendant Le Duc Tho.
According to the case file, defendant Le Duc Tho, while holding the position of General Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietinbank, took advantage of his position to accept bribes and exert influence for personal gain. During the period 2019 - 2021, he received 600,000 USD (13.8 billion VND) from Mai Thi Hong Hanh to approve a credit limit of 5,000 billion VND for Xuyen Viet Oil Company.
In addition, when he was Secretary of Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee in 2021, Mr. Tho influenced the Director of Vietinbank's Ben Tre branch so that Xuyen Viet Oil Company could borrow 400 billion VND with preferential interest rates and a credit ratio of 40%.
Mr. Tho received money and assets from defendant Mai Thi Hong Hanh (Director of Xuyen Viet Oil Company) many times, totaling 22.8 billion VND. In total, Mr. Tho received bribes and took advantage of his position and power to influence others to gain more than 33 billion VND.
According to the indictment, Ms. Mai Thi Hong Hanh is the legal representative, Director and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Xuyen Viet Oil Company. During the process of operating the petroleum business at the Company, taking advantage of her position and authority, Ms. Hanh violated regulations on management and use of the Price Stabilization Fund and environmental protection money, causing a loss of state assets of VND 1,463 billion. Of which, the loss from the Price Stabilization Fund was VND 219 billion, the loss from environmental protection tax was VND 1,244 billion.
Specifically, Ms. Hanh did not direct her staff to set aside money for the Price Stabilization Fund according to regulations, but instead directed her subordinates to transfer money into her personal account.
After that, Ms. Hanh used this money to buy, lend to friends, spend on personal expenses, bribe some individuals at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Finance...
Regarding the collection, management and transfer of environmental protection tax, Ms. Hanh intentionally used the collected money for personal purposes without transferring the money to the State budget.
In total, Ms. Hanh gave bribes 22 times with a total amount of more than 31 billion VND to 8 individuals. Of which, former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai received 1.1 billion VND to help Xuyen Viet Oil Company reissue export and import business licenses for key traders and those directly in charge of them that were about to expire.
As for the former Secretary of Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee, Mr. Le Duc Tho was accused of receiving bribes of more than 13 billion VND, taking advantage of his position and power to influence others to gain profits of more than 22 billion VND.
Specifically, since 2018, Mai Thi Hong Hanh has known Mr. Le Duc Tho because Xuyen Viet Oil Company has a credit relationship with the bank where Mr. Tho is the Chairman. Ms. Hanh asked Mr. Tho to help provide a credit limit and extend the credit limit maintenance period for Xuyen Viet Oil.
With the act of Abusing position and power to influence others for personal gain, the indictment determined that in 2021, Mr. Tho was transferred and assigned to hold the position of Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee.
To enhance his own reputation, Mr. Tho suggested that Mai Thi Hong Hanh establish a branch or subsidiary of Xuyen Viet Oil in Ben Tre to pay taxes to increase the province's budget revenue. In return, this company will be facilitated to implement real estate, seaport, and tourism projects in the locality.
After establishing Viet Oil Joint Stock Company in Ben Tre (Viet Oil Company), the former Secretary repeatedly used his position to influence and facilitate Viet Oil Company in production and business activities.
The People's Court sentenced defendant Mai Thi Hong Hanh to 19 years in prison for violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste, and 11 years in prison for bribery. The total sentence is 30 years in prison. The defendant is banned from operating in the petroleum business for 2 years.
Defendant Nguyen Thi Nhu Phuong, Deputy Director of Xuyen Viet Oil, was sentenced to 6 years in prison for violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste.
For the crime of accepting bribes, the People's Court sentenced: defendant Le Duy Minh (former Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department) to 6 years in prison; defendant Do Thang Hai (former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade) to 3 years in prison.
The remaining defendants were sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, suspended, up to 7 years in prison for the crimes of Receiving bribes and Giving bribes.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/cuu-bi-thu-ben-tre-le-duc-tho-lanh-28-nam-tu-ar910280.html
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