After a two-day trial, on the evening of January 23, the Trial Panel of the High People's Court in Hanoi upheld the first instance sentence of 9 years in prison for defendant Tran Hung, former Deputy Director of the Market Management Department, former Head of Group 304, now Group 1444 (General Department of Market Management) for the crime of Receiving bribes.
Of the 17 defendants who appealed and asked for a reduction in their remaining sentences, the panel of judges accepted their appeals for 13 people because they presented new mitigating circumstances.
Among them, Cao Thi Minh Thuan, Director of Phu Hung Phat Company, had her sentence reduced from 10 years to 8 years in prison for the crime of Manufacturing and trading counterfeit goods.
Notably, defendant Le Viet Phuong, former Deputy Captain of Market Management Team No. 17 (Hanoi) also had his sentence reduced from 30 months to 30 months in prison but given a suspended sentence for the crime of Abusing position and power while performing official duties.
Previously, at the appeal trial, former Deputy Director Tran Hung kept claiming his innocence, affirming that he did not receive a bribe of 300 million VND.
Even when giving his final statement at the appeal court, defendant Hung asked: "Give me the highest sentence if it can be proven that I accepted a bribe. But I affirm that I did not accept a bribe."
Mr. Hung's lawyers also said that there was no evidence showing that Tran Hung received 300 million VND from Cao Thi Minh Thuan (Director of Phu Hung Phat Company).
The appeal judgment rejected the above views, stating that Tran Hung was the former Head of Group 304 of the General Department of Market Management, so he was a person with authority under the Law on Anti-Corruption.
The market management representative also testified that Tran Hung was the leader of Group 304, and defendant Hung's opinion could be considered the opinion of the General Director, so it must be followed.
The court found that witnesses, Kieu Nghiep and Nguyen Van Kim (coworkers of Tran Hung) testified that they saw Nguyen Duy Hai (the bribery broker) carrying a black plastic bag into Hung's office.
Then, Hai called Hung to talk on the phone and instruct Thuan to make a statement.
The testimony of the witnesses, Nghiep and Kim, is consistent with the testimony of the defendants Thuan and Hai as well as the extracted phone data.
Therefore, there is sufficient basis to determine that Hai gave 300 million VND of Cao Thi Minh Thuan to Tran Hung.
After that, Mr. Hung instructed Cao Thi Minh Thuan to declare the origin of the pirated books, from manufactured goods to consignment goods, so that she would not be criminally prosecuted, but only administratively prosecuted.
Defendant Tran Hung also called defendant Le Viet Phuong, then Deputy Head of Market Management Team No. 17, who was in charge of Cao Thi Minh Thuan's case, asking Phuong to "handle it lightly".
Former Deputy Director Tran Hung at the appeal hearing (Photo: Nguyen Hai).
Therefore, the appellate court determined that Tran Hung had taken advantage of his position and power to receive a bribe of 300 million VND.
The court of first instance's sentence of 9 years in prison was correct and not unjust, and defendant Hung did not ask for a reduction in sentence, so the appellate court did not consider a reduction.
According to the accusation, in 2020, Phu Hung Phat Company was inspected by Market Management Team No. 17, Hanoi Market Management Department, and a large number of textbooks were seized.
The inspection results discovered and seized 27,360 textbooks without invoices or documents proving their origin.
Market Management Team No. 17 has drawn up a record and temporarily detained the above books for further verification and clarification.
Cao Thi Minh Thuan (Director of Phu Hung Phat Company) knew that Mr. Tran Hung was the person directly in charge of the inspection, so she contacted him to ask for help to get lenient punishment.
After that, Mr. Hung temporarily agreed to release him but asked Thuan to point out some illegal printing facilities.
Thuan then connected with Nguyen Duy Hai (freelance worker) to meet Mr. Hung directly, offering to pay 400 million VND.
After talking with Hai, Mr. Hung instructed to change the statement about the origin of the confiscated books, saying that the books were brought by someone else for deposit.
On July 15, 2020, Nguyen Duy Hai took 300 million VND in a black bag and gave it to Tran Hung.
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