The Investigation Police Agency (C03) of the Ministry of Public Security has just issued the conclusion of the investigation into the case of giving and receiving bribes and violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences at the Vietnam Education Publishing House Company Limited (Education Publishing House).
C03 proposed to prosecute 8 defendants, including Mr. Nguyen Duc Thai, former Chairman of the Education Publishing House, who was proposed to be prosecuted for accepting bribes; the defendants To My Ngoc, Chairman of Phung Vinh Hung Company, and Nguyen Tri Minh, Director of Minh Cuong Phat Paper Company, were proposed to be prosecuted for giving bribes. The rest were proposed to be prosecuted for violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences.
Defendants Nguyen Duc Thai and To My Ngoc
According to the investigation, in 2017, Mr. Nguyen Duc Thai was appointed as Chairman of the Education Publishing House. At the request of To My Ngoc and Nguyen Tri Minh, Mr. Thai directed the bidding for printing paper in violation of regulations.
Specifically, these defendants chose to purchase printing paper using a shortened competitive bidding method contrary to the provisions of the Bidding Law to limit the participation of qualified contractors; disclosed information before issuing the request documents, colluded and legalized the bidding procedure to create conditions for Phung Vinh Hung Company and Minh Cuong Phat Company to supply printing paper to the Education Publishing House.
The appraisal results showed that with 7 printing paper bidding packages, the defendants in the case caused losses of more than 10 billion VND. In addition, in order to participate and win the bidding, the group of defendants To My Ngoc and Nguyen Tri Minh bribed Nguyen Duc Thai many times.
The investigation concluded that since 2017, Ms. Ngoc had met, raised the issue, promised to thank and was agreed by Mr. Thai to create conditions for her to participate in and win the bid to supply printing paper for textbooks and exercise books for the 2018-2019 school year.
After winning the bid, Ms. Ngoc prepared 3 billion VND including 6 piles, each pile had 10 sheaves, each sheaf had 50 million VND, put it in a 2-handle paper bag, tied it up and put another paper bag on the outside. After that, Ms. Ngoc texted to make an appointment and Mr. Thai agreed.
Ms. Ngoc carried the bag of money to Mr. Thai's office on the 9th floor of the Education Publishing House (Tran Hung Dao Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi), placed it next to the coffee table and said it was "a little thank you gift". When Ms. Ngoc returned, Mr. Thai opened the bag to check and put the money in the safe in the office.
From 2018 to 2021, Ms. Ngoc's companies participated in and won 10 bids, with a total value of 1,593 billion VND. After being helped by Mr. Thai, winning the bid and signing the contract, Ms. Ngoc went to the office of the Director of the Education Publishing House, regularly giving 4 billion VND/year to express her gratitude, usually at the end of the year or the beginning of the calendar year. On these 4 occasions, Ms. Ngoc prepared 4 billion VND herself (including 8 piles, each pile of 10 sheaves, each sheaf of 50 million, wrapped tightly, in a Tet gift bag) and then brought it to Mr. Thai's office and left it.
In addition, on the occasion of Lunar New Year from 2018 - 2022, Ms. Ngoc also regularly thanked Mr. Thai with 200 million VND/year, a total of 1 billion VND.
From there, C03 accused Mr. Thai of receiving bribes totaling 20 billion VND and helping Ms. Ngoc's group of companies win 13 bid packages, with a total value of more than 2,100 billion VND.
Regarding Mr. Nguyen Tri Minh, C03 accused that in 2017, this defendant also went to see Mr. Thai, introduced himself as a partner who had been supplying paper for many years to the Education Publishing House to ask for help and Mr. Thai agreed to create conditions for Minh Cuong Phat Company to continue supplying paper to the Education Publishing House. After that, Minh Cuong Phat Company was put on the short list and participated in and won a bid. In return, defendant Minh "gave" Mr. Thai's wife 400 million VND along with a box of cake and a bottle of wine.
To win the next bids, defendant Minh bribed Mr. Thai many times, totaling more than 4 billion VND. Minh Cuong Phat Paper Company later won 5 bids from the Education Publishing House, with a total value of more than 200 billion VND.
C03 believes that purchasing printing paper to serve the printing of educational books is a regular activity of the Education Publishing House, carried out annually, the price of printing paper accounts for 30 - 40% of the textbook selling price structure, purchasing printing paper at a high price will increase the price of books. Purchasing printing paper in the form of competitive bidding allows investors to decide on the shortlist, limiting the participation of suppliers with capacity, good quality and low selling price, not ensuring competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cuu-chu-tich-nxb-giao-duc-viet-nam-nhan-hoi-lo-hon-24-ti-dong-18524092312424075.htm
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