Exposing bribery tricks in the 'rescue flight' scandal

Of these, 21 people were prosecuted for bribery, of which 18 people face the highest penalty of death, including: former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung; Nguyen Quang Linh, former assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister; Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, former Director of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Pham Trung Kien, former secretary of the Deputy Minister of Health; Tran Van Tan, former Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam province; Chu Xuan Dung, former Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hanoi city...

More than 500 times bribery

The indictment determined that in early 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out in China and quickly spread around the world. At this time, many Vietnamese citizens were stranded abroad and needed to return home. The government organized "rescue flights" (only charging airfare and quarantine fees) and "combo flights" (paying full fees) to meet the needs of the people.

Phanh phui thủ đoạn hối lộ trong đại án 'chuyến bay giải cứu' - Ảnh 1. — Rescue flight bringing 340 Vietnamese people from the UK back to Vietnam , at Tan Son Nhat airport, June 2020

To implement, 5 ministries and branches were assigned the responsibility of coordination. The Government Office gathered staff and proposed to the Government leaders to approve the flight plan; the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defense gave their opinions and approved the flight; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the lead in asking for opinions and reaching agreement with the ministries, then reported to the Government leaders, developed and proposed the flight plan.

Taking advantage of the implementation process and their job positions, a series of leaders and officials of the above ministries and sectors received money to favor familiar businesses when granting flight licenses.

The investigation results found 21 defendants guilty of accepting bribes, with more than 500 times of receiving money, totaling nearly 165 billion VND. Of which, To Anh Dung received 21.5 billion VND, Nguyen Quang Linh received more than 4.2 billion VND, Nguyen Thi Huong Lan received more than 25 billion VND, Pham Trung Kien received more than 42.6 billion VND...

According to the indictment, of the approximately 100 businesses licensed to conduct flights to bring Vietnamese citizens back to the country, only about 20 business groups actually carried out the flights, the rest lent their legal entities or applied for licenses and then sold the right to organize flights to other legal entities.

To participate, representatives of some enterprises directly or through intermediaries paid "grease money" to leaders and officials with authority in relevant ministries and branches. Of the 54 defendants, 23 were prosecuted for bribery, through more than 400 payments to give more than 226 billion VND to officials of ministries and branches.

"Lubrication" from A to Z

Enterprises wishing to organize flights must request a local quarantine policy, send documents to the Consular Department (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the Consular Department will consult with the working group of ministries and branches and submit to the Government for approval, then notify the enterprise to implement. According to this process, enterprises will have to pay "grease money" at many steps.

First, the company proactively approached the leaders of the People's Committees of provinces and cities, including Hanoi and Quang Nam, to "collude". The prosecution's accusations show that Mr. Chu Xuan Dung (former Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee) and Mr. Tran Van Tan (former Vice Chairman of the Quang Nam Provincial People's Committee) received bribes of more than 2.05 billion and 5 billion VND, respectively, to sign documents approving the company to bring citizens back for quarantine.

The next address is the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the unit assigned to review the list of companies operating flights. Four defendants from this agency, including the director and deputy director, received bribes totaling nearly 40 billion VND to put familiar companies on the list. Notably, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung is one of the defendants holding the highest position in this case.

Abroad, when businesses contact Vietnamese representative agencies to ask for support in organizing flights, some individuals at these agencies make demands, forcing domestic businesses to "grease the ship" one more time.

Another address is the Government Office, the unit that collects, advises, and proposes to the Government leaders to approve the flight plan as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also has people involved. Typically, defendant Nguyen Quang Linh received a bribe of more than 4.2 billion VND as stated.

Similarly, the company had to complete the "greasing process" by paying tens of billions of dong to a series of officials in ministries and sectors related to the flight organization. Typically, defendant Pham Trung Kien, although only the secretary of the Deputy Minister of Health, had received bribes more than 250 times with a total of nearly 43 billion dong, and was also the person accused of receiving the most money in the case.

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