Taking advantage of the press to protect trucks, earning more than 1 billion VND per month

On the evening of November 27, Ha Tinh Provincial Police announced the decision to prosecute Le Danh Tao (57 years old, residing in Tran Phu ward, Ha Tinh city, Ha Tinh province) for the crime of Taking advantage of influence over people with positions and powers for personal gain.

Also prosecuted for this crime are Tao's wife, Ho Thi Hai (41 years old, Director of Healthy Living and Law Media Company Limited) and Ho Kim Cuong (35 years old, contributor to a magazine - Tao's brother-in-law).

Le Danh Tao (Photo: Provided by Police).

According to the investigation, Le Danh Tao used to be a journalist and contributor to several newspapers and magazines. During his career, Tao became acquainted with many traffic police (CSGT) and traffic inspectors (TTGT) in many provinces and cities across the country; and also became acquainted with several long-distance freight transport companies.

Discovering that many drivers often commit administrative violations in the field of road traffic, Tao asked them to pay 6-8 million VND/month/vehicle to receive "protection".

Create a commitment that as long as it is "My car", the authorities will ignore it or if it is stopped for inspection, Tao will directly call to intervene.

Police searched Ho Thi Hai's residence (Photo: Provided by Police).

At the same time, Tao and his accomplices directly raised the issue with the traffic police and traffic inspectors, asking for favorable conditions, to ignore violations, or to lightly handle violations for drivers who had paid the "law" fee.

If not given favorable conditions, these subjects threaten to write defamatory and distorted articles; find every way to discover violations in the work of the traffic police force, thereby threatening and controlling them.

To conceal their crimes, this group established businesses and transport cooperatives, legalizing the "legal" amount that drivers had to pay monthly as a fee to join the cooperative.

The subjects created closed Zalo groups to exchange related information.

Police seized related papers and documents (Photo: Provided by Police).

Police determined that in this ring, Tao was the ringleader, while his wife and sister-in-law played supporting roles.

Accordingly, Ho Thi Hai has the role of managing bank accounts to receive "legal" money, reminding drivers to pay "legal" money every month, and sending logos to drivers.

Ho Kim Cuong participated in supporting in raising issues with traffic police stations.

With the above method, each month, Tao and his accomplices illegally profited over 1 billion VND.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/phap-luat/loi-dung-danh-nghia-bao-chi-bao-ke-xe-tai-moi-thang-thu-hon-1-ty-dong-20231127191144503.htm