On the morning of December 26, the High People's Court in Hanoi continued to hear the appeal of the "rescue flight" case. After the end of the questioning, the representative of the People's Procuracy announced the indictment and proposed sentences for the 21 defendants who filed appeals.
Notably, the two defendants, former Deputy Director of Hanoi Police Nguyen Anh Tuan and former Ambassador Tran Viet Thai, did not file an appeal but were still recommended by the Procuracy to have their prison sentences reduced by 6-12 months to demonstrate "fairness and leniency".
Accordingly, Mr. Tuan, the only person involved in the "fixing of sentences" case, did not appeal. Mr. Tuan was accused of taking money from Le Hong Son and Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, General Director and Deputy General Director of Blue Sky Company, and giving it to former investigator Hoang Van Hung during the investigation phase of the case with the purpose of "fixing sentences" for Hang and Son. The first instance court sentenced Mr. Tuan to 5 years in prison for bribery brokerage.
During the indictment hearing on the morning of December 26, the People's Procuracy said that Mr. Tuan initially submitted a request for a reduced sentence but later withdrew it. However, the defendant's wife, Ms. Dinh Thi Tuyet, appealed, requesting to return to her family 210,000 USD and 146 taels of gold that were seized when her husband was searched at home. Ms. Tuyet also requested to cancel the order to freeze 1 billion VND in the bank.
Former Deputy Director of Hanoi Police Nguyen Anh Tuan at the first instance court.
In the petition, Ms. Tuyet said that her husband did not appeal because he wanted to serve his sentence early, because his illness was too serious and required intensive treatment. Now, although her husband did not appeal, Ms. Tuyet still hopes that the panel of judges will consider reducing her husband's sentence.
The Procuracy assessed that the first instance court's sentence of 5 years in prison for Mr. Tuan was appropriate. However, at the appeal hearing, defendant Hung admitted his crime and remedied all the consequences. The discovery, handling, prosecution and trial of defendant Hung were great achievements and efforts of defendant Tuan, defendant Hang and defendant Son. The consequences of the case have been remedied.
At the appeals court, all three defendants Hung, Thanh Hang, and Hong Son were considered for reduced sentences. To ensure fairness and demonstrate the leniency of the law, the sentence for defendant Nguyen Anh Tuan should be reduced, the indictment stated.
Therefore, the prosecution agency proposed that the former Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police reduce his sentence by 6-12 months, down to 4 years to 4 years and 6 months. In addition, Mr. Tuan and his family have completed their obligation to remedy the consequences, so it is necessary to accept Ms. Tuyet's request to return 210,000 USD, 146 taels of gold and 1 billion VND frozen in the bank account.
Similar to Mr. Tran Viet Thai, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia, the People's Procuracy also proposed a reduction of 6-12 months in prison, although this defendant did not submit a request for a reduced sentence.
According to the prosecution, Mr. Thai "for personal gain" took advantage of his position, intentionally violated his official duties, and collected more money than prescribed from people who had completed their prison terms and relatives of Vietnamese people detained in waiting camps in Malaysia, causing a loss of more than 10 billion VND. Of which, for the passport issuance alone, Mr. Thai and his two subordinates Nguyen Hoang Linh (former second secretary) and Dang Minh Phuong (former accountant) were accused of collecting more than 4.6 million VND/book but only paid 1.6 million VND/book to the budget.
Mr. Thai and his two subordinates collected a total of 44.6 billion VND, but the costs of organizing the rescue flight were only 33 billion VND, leaving more than 11 billion VND. Mr. Thai and his subordinates kept 5 billion VND at the embassy, and divided the rest among themselves, with Mr. Thai receiving 580 million VND and his subordinates receiving less. The People's Procuracy accepted the appeals of both defendants Linh and Phuong, converting their 30-month and 18-month prison sentences to suspended sentences of the same term.
The People's Procuracy believes that although Mr. Thai did not appeal, he had returned the full amount of benefits; considering that his two subordinates had their appeals accepted by the prosecution, the reduction of Mr. Thai's sentence is a demonstration of "fairness and leniency of the law".
Wisdom
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