On the morning of January 16, at the trial of the case of Bribery, Receiving Bribes, and Abusing Position and Power while Performing Official Duty in Lam Dong Province, the People's Court spent time questioning Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri, General Director of Saigon Dai Ninh Company.

According to the accusation, with the purpose of illegally profiting from the sale of the Dai Ninh project, Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri colluded with accomplices to commit a series of violations.

During the process of submitting the petition of Saigon Dai Ninh Company to the Government Office, completing procedures to change the legal representative of Saigon Dai Ninh Company; working with the Government Inspectorate and the Provincial Party Committee, People's Committee of Lam Dong province related to the Dai Ninh project, defendant Tri repeatedly gave bribes totaling 7.05 billion VND to defendants at the Government Inspectorate and the Provincial Party Committee, People's Committee so that those people could commit violations to help defendant Tri achieve the purpose of changing the inspection conclusion from terminating the project's operations and reclaiming land to not reclaiming, extending the progress and continuing to implement the project contrary to the provisions of law.

Responding to questioning in court, Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri said that realizing that Dai Ninh was a good project, the defendant was willing to spend money to buy it back even though he knew that this project still had many problems and was subject to a proposal to be revoked.

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Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri answers questions in court. Photo: CTV

According to the defendant Tri's testimony, when he learned that Mr. Tran Van Minh (then Deputy Inspector General of the Government) was the person who signed Inspection Conclusion No. 929 recommending the Government to assign the People's Committee of Lam Dong province to terminate the operation and reclaim land of the Dai Ninh project..., Mr. Tri went to find Mr. Minh to talk.

As classmates and friends for over 20 years, Mr. Minh reviewed the inspection conclusion and said that the Dai Ninh project still had a basis for continued implementation. At that time, Mr. Minh “advised” Mr. Tri to send a petition to the Government Office.

"I am a business, when the business has problems, I just look for someone to guide me to solve them," Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri said.

According to the testimony of the General Director of Saigon Dai Ninh Company, at that time the defendant remembered his relationship with Mr. Mai Tien Dung (former Minister, Head of the Government Office) so he went to find Mr. Dung to ask for help. At that time, Mr. Mai Tien Dung told the defendant Tran Bich Ngoc (former Head of the Department of Monitoring Inspection Work; Handling Complaints and Denunciations; Preventing Corruption, Smuggling, Trade Fraud and Counterfeit Goods (Department I, Government Office) to transfer the petition of Saigon Dai Ninh Company to the Government Inspectorate.

Defendant Nguyen Cao Tri also admitted to giving Mr. Mai Tien Dung 200 million VND and giving Ms. Ngoc 50 million VND.

According to Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri's testimony, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the defendant sponsored 2,000 ventilators, so he had the opportunity to visit the Government Office many times. When Mr. Mai Tien Dung said that the Government Office intended to make many tea sets as gifts, the defendant also spent 380 million VND to sponsor them.

At today's trial, Mr. Mai Tien Dung appeared tired, and needed someone to help him enter the courtroom or stand up to testify. Defendant Mai Tien Dung was detained from May 1, 2024 to July 17, 2024, and is currently subject to preventive measures such as bail and temporary suspension of exit from the country.