How was former Market Management Officer Tran Hung accused of taking bribes?

On May 31, the Hanoi People's Court will open the first-instance trial of a case involving a large-scale counterfeit textbook production ring.

36 defendants appeared in court, including Mr. Tran Hung, who was prosecuted for accepting bribes; Cao Thi Minh Thuan, Director of Phu Hung Phat Company, and Nguyen Manh Ha, Deputy Director of Hanoi Printing Joint Stock Company, were prosecuted for producing and trading counterfeit goods; Nguyen Duy Hai (freelance worker) was prosecuted for brokering bribes.

Mr. Tran Hung, former Head of Group 304 (General Department of Market Management)

The indictment determined that from the beginning of the year to June 2021, defendant Cao Thi Minh Thuan and her accomplices organized the production of nearly 9.5 million fake textbooks of various types with a total cover value of more than 260 billion VND. The defendants sold more than 6.3 million books, with a total cover value of more than 164 billion VND, the actual selling price of more than 73 billion VND, and more than 30 billion VND was paid.

During the process of committing the crime, defendant Thuan and defendant Ha repeatedly gave money to Mr. Tran Hung and a number of market management officers to ask for help when being handled for violations.

Instructions for changing testimony to escape criminal proceedings?

According to the Supreme People's Procuracy, in early July 2020, after receiving the information, as the Head of Team 304, Mr. Tran Hung directed the professional department under the General Department of Market Management to coordinate with the Hanoi Market Management Department and Market Management Team No. 17 to inspect a book warehouse in Hoang Mai District (Hanoi), because of suspicions that there were many fake textbooks.

As a result, Market Management Team No. 17 discovered and seized more than 27,000 books without invoices or proof of origin, which were being stored by Phu Hung Phat Company. Mr. Tran Hung then issued a document directing his subordinates at Team 304 to supervise the investigation of Phu Hung Phat Company's fake textbook trading methods, emphasizing that a meeting with Team 304 must be held before making a conclusion.

Knowing that Mr. Hung was the one who directly directed, Ms. Cao Thi Minh Thuan texted and called with the purpose of asking for help and direction to handle her case lightly. Mr. Hung said he "agreed to forgive" but on the condition that Ms. Thuan had to point out a number of illegal book printing establishments.

Next, Ms. Thuan discussed with Nguyen Manh Ha that she would meet Nguyen Duy Hai (who regularly provided information to Mr. Tran Hung) to ask Hai to influence Mr. Tran Hung. The three agreed to pay 400 million VND to Mr. Hung.

A warehouse of fake books of Phu Hung Phat Company

On July 14, 2020, Hai met with Mr. Tran Hung and 2 members of Team 304, asking Ms. Thuan to drop the case and send Mr. Hung and Team 304 400 million VND. Mr. Hung instructed Hai to tell Ms. Thuan to change her statement about the origin of the textbooks, which were consigned by someone else and not purchased by Ms. Thuan. Mr. Hung also called and directed Mr. Le Viet Phuong, Deputy Captain of Market Management Team No. 17, to create conditions to help Ms. Thuan in the direction of only handling administrative procedures.

Under Mr. Hung's guidance, Ms. Thuan changed her statement about the origin of the textbooks. Mr. Phuong directed the inspector of Market Management Team No. 17 to record in the working minutes the content "these books were consigned by someone else, Ms. Thuan does not know if they are real or fake".

On August 12, 2020, the Hanoi Market Management Department held an advisory council meeting to determine the direction of handling, with the participation of the Market Management force, the police and the prosecutor's office. Based on the report of Market Management Team No. 17, the meeting agreed that the origin of the confiscated books could not be clarified, there was not enough evidence to determine whether Ms. Thuan knew whether the goods were real or fake, the entire number of books had not been circulated on the market so the consequences had not occurred, and there was not enough to constitute a criminal offense...

A week later, the Hanoi Market Management Department issued a decision to administratively fine Phu Hung Phat Company VND50 million. Before, during and after the violation handling process, Ms. Thuan repeatedly gave money to Mr. Phuong and Market Management Team No. 17, totaling VND330 million. Mr. Phuong divided the money among two subordinates, one VND5 million and the other VND6 million.

Mr. Tran Hung denied receiving bribes.

According to the indictment, on the morning of July 15, 2020, Nguyen Duy Hai took 300 million VND (money given by Cao Thi Minh Thuan to Nguyen Manh Ha, Ha gave Hai in a black plastic bag), and went to Mr. Tran Hung's office. There, Hai met Mr. Hung and 2 members of Group 304, told Ms. Thuan to give him 300 million VND in advance and gave the bag of money to Mr. Hung. However, Mr. Tran Hung said to put it away.

Seeing this, Hai called Mrs. Thuan and then transferred the phone to Mr. Hung. Mr. Hung continued to instruct Mrs. Thuan to change her statement about the origin of the confiscated books. After that, Mr. Hung said he was busy and asked 2 members of Team 304 to take Hai to lunch. When he went to eat, Hai took a bag of money with him.

That same afternoon, after finishing eating, Hai took the money bag and followed two members of Team 304 back to the General Department of Market Management. Hai went to Mr. Tran Hung's office through the back door and gave Mr. Hung 300 million VND.

The defendants are former officers of Market Management Team No. 17.

During the investigation, Mr. Tran Hung did not admit to committing the crime. However, the Supreme People's Procuracy affirmed that there was sufficient basis to prosecute the defendant for bribery.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency seized the defendants' telegrams, extracted electronic data seized on Mr. Tran Hung's phone, and determined that the defendants and people related to the case had contacted and exchanged content during the process of resolving the Phu Hung Phat Company case.

The investigation agency also requested an expert assessment to determine the content and voices of Mr. Hung, Nguyen Duy Hai, Cao Thi Minh Thuan, and Le Viet Phuong in the audio files recorded from the phone and hard drive seized from Mr. Hung. The expert assessment conclusion determined that the voices of this group were in the files requested for assessment.

Not only that, although Mr. Tran Hung denied it, defendant Hai confessed that Hai's testimony was consistent with the results of the investigation experiment and described the process of Hai walking from the General Department of Market Management's door to Mr. Hung's office to give 300 million VND.

In addition, the indictment was also based on the testimony of the defendants Thuan, Phuong, and members of Group 304; the minutes of the confrontation between Mr. Hung and the group of Hai, Thuan, and Phuong; the diagram drawn by Hai identifying the location where Hai gave money to Mr. Hung...

"In fact, the case was not transferred to the investigation agency for handling according to its authority but was handled administratively, therefore, Tran Hung's testimony has no basis for acceptance," the indictment stated.

The prosecution agency determined that the actions of defendant Cao Thi Minh Thuan had signs of bribery, and Nguyen Manh Ha had signs of bribery brokerage, but because they actively cooperated and proactively reported before being discovered, they were exempted from criminal liability. The two defendants were only prosecuted for the crime of manufacturing and trading in counterfeit goods.

Regarding defendant Le Viet Phuong and some officers of Market Management Team No. 17, although the case of Phu Hung Phat Company had enough signs to be transferred to the investigation agency, this group built a file, reported and proposed administrative handling, thereby receiving 310 million VND in gratitude from Cao Thi Minh Thuan. The defendants were prosecuted for the crime of abusing their positions and powers while performing official duties.

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