Prosecution of former Ben Tre Party Secretary and former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade
Báo Thanh niên•28/08/2024
Former Secretary of Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee Le Duc Tho and former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai and 12 defendants have just been proposed for prosecution in 5 groups of crimes in the case that occurred at Xuyen Viet Oil Trading, Transport and Tourism Company Limited.
The Department of Security Investigation (A09) of the Ministry of Public Security has just issued the conclusion of the investigation into the case that occurred at Xuyen Viet Oil Trading, Transport and Tourism Company Limited (abbreviated as Xuyen Viet Oil) and a number of related agencies and organizations.
Proposal to prosecute 14 defendants
In this case, A09 proposed to prosecute 14 defendants for the following crimes: violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste; lack of responsibility causing serious consequences; giving bribes; receiving bribes and abusing positions and powers to influence others for personal gain. In particular, Ms. Mai Thi Hong Hanh, Director and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Xuyen Viet Oil, was proposed to be prosecuted for two crimes of violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste and giving bribes; Mr. Le Duc Tho, former Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee, was proposed to be prosecuted for accepting bribes and abusing positions and powers to influence others for personal gain; Mr. Do Thang Hai, former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, was proposed to be prosecuted for accepting bribes.
Le Duc Tho
Photo: Ministry of Public Security
According to the investigation conclusion, in the process of operating the petroleum business at Xuyen Viet Oil, taking advantage of her position and authority as the representative and owner of the company and the authority assigned by the State in managing and using the Petroleum Stabilization Fund (BOG) and the task of collecting and transferring environmental protection tax to the state budget, Ms. Mai Thi Hong Hanh caused a total loss of VND 1,463 billion in state assets. Specifically, Ms. Hanh directed her employees to transfer money from the BOG Fund to her personal account instead of deducting the BOG Fund according to regulations. This money was used by Ms. Hanh to buy real estate, lend to friends; for personal expenses; pay bribes to a number of individuals at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, etc. In addition, to deal with inspections and audits, Ms. Hanh directed accounting staff to prepare 81 reports on the status of deductions and use of the BOG Fund, but in fact the balance in the account did not match the data.
Bribe tens of billions of dong
Regarding bribery, A09 accused Ms. Hanh of bribing 8 people with a total amount of 1.265 million USD (more than 29 billion VND) to ask for help to help Xuyen Viet Oil get its business license reissued, support in banking... According to the investigation conclusion, from 2019 - 2020, when Mr. Tho was still Chairman of Vietinbank, Ms. Hanh twice bribed a total of 600,000 USD to ask Mr. Tho to help grant a credit limit, extend the time to maintain the credit limit for Xuyen Viet Oil.
Do Thang Hai
Photo: Ministry of Public Security
In 2021, Mr. Tho was appointed as Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee. At this time, to enhance his reputation, Mr. Tho asked Ms. Hanh to establish a branch or subsidiary of Xuyen Viet Oil in Ben Tre to pay taxes to increase the province's budget revenue. In return, this enterprise would be facilitated to implement real estate, seaport, and tourism projects in the locality. Ms. Hanh then established Viet Oil Joint Stock Company and was directed by Mr. Tho to have the bank support loans and credit limits as requested by Ms. Hanh. Being favored, Ms. Hanh gave Mr. Tho gifts 3 times. The first time, Ms. Hanh gave a set of Honma brand golf clubs, worth 1.1 billion VND and a Patek Philippe Plus watch, worth 421,000 USD. The second time at the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee Guest House, Ms. Hanh gave Mr. Tho 200,000 USD; For the third time in May 2022, Ms. Hanh bought Mr. Tho a Mercedes Benz S450 Luxury car, worth 6.7 billion VND. Regarding Mr. Do Thang Hai, A09 accused this defendant of receiving a bribe of 50,000 USD, after helping Xuyen Viet Oil to be re-issued a license to export and import gasoline and oil in violation of regulations. Specifically, around June 2021, knowing that the company's license was about to expire, Ms. Hanh directed her subordinates to contact, connect, and bribe officials and leaders of the Domestic Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) and leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to ask for help and create conditions for re-issuing the license. Ms. Hanh then called Mr. Hai for help and was introduced by the former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade to contact Hoang Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department, for instructions. At the same time, Mr. Hai called Mr. Tuan to direct the early review and settlement of Xuyen Viet Oil's file.
From left: Mai Thi Hong Hanh and subordinate Nguyen Thi Nhu Phuong
Photo: Ministry of Public Security
On September 20, 2021, as directed, Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, Deputy Director of Hanoi Branch of Xuyen Viet Oil, brought 300,000 USD to the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to bribe Mr. Tuan and Mr. Tran Duy Dong, Director of the Domestic Market Department. However, before entering Mr. Dong's office to give the bribe, Mr. Thang "embezzled" 50,000 USD and left only a bag of money containing 250,000 USD and said: "Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Ms. Hanh could not go to Hanoi, Ms. Hanh sent you a gift" and then left. Mr. Dong divided this amount of money with Mr. Tuan, 130,000 USD. On November 12, 2021, Mr. Tuan led a delegation to inspect the conditions for granting a gasoline business license of Xuyen Viet Oil. Ms. Hanh directed Mr. Thang to take Mr. Tuan to "symbolically" inspect a gas station of Xuyen Viet Oil in Tan Phu District (HCMC), and at the same time directed to give a bribe of 10,000 USD to Mr. Tuan. After that, Mr. Tuan signed a record confirming that Xuyen Viet Oil "basically met the conditions for re-issuance of a business license", without fully inspecting. During this inspection, Mr. Tuan also discovered that Xuyen Viet Oil did not set aside the BOG Fund according to regulations, but because Ms. Hanh had bribed him many times, Mr. Tuan ignored it, did not consider or propose handling or rectification. On November 19, 2021, based on the proposal of his subordinates, Mr. Do Thang Hai signed and issued a license for Xuyen Viet Oil to continue to import and export gasoline. More than 1 month after being granted the license, Ms. Hanh went to Mr. Hai's office to give a bribe of 50,000 USD to the former deputy minister to thank him.
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