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In court, former Director of the Registry Dang Viet Ha confessed to receiving bribes from his subordinates and said that giving 100 thousand USD to someone to get information for investigation was due to ‘panic’ and not being sober.
After nearly a week of completing procedures and announcing the indictment, on the afternoon of July 23, the trial for 254 defendants related to violations occurring at the Vietnam Register and registration centers in Ho Chi Minh City, Long An, Ben Tre, and Soc Trang entered the questioning phase.
The panel of judges proceeded to question a group of defendants who were former leaders and employees of the Vietnam Register.
First questioned, Defender Tran Ky Hinh (former Director of the Department of Vehicle Registration from January 2014 to July 2021), admitted to the acts as prosecuted in the indictment.
Defendant Tran Ky Hinh. Photo: VD
Defendant Tran Ky Hinh affirmed that he was only responsible for the amount of more than 7.1 billion VND that he personally benefited from, and was not responsible for the entire amount of money embezzled from the Department of Registration.
In court, defendant Hinh said that through his lawyer, he learned that his family had recovered more than 2 billion VND and 12,000 USD.
Regarding mitigating circumstances, defendant Hinh said that he had a good character, actively cooperated with the investigation agency, and overcame the consequences.
According to the accusation, when discovering violations and negativity occurring at the Department of Registration, defendant Hinh did not correct or handle the situation but also received money from department leaders to ignore violations during the vehicle inspection process with a total amount of more than 7,164 billion VND.
In addition, defendant Hinh also approved the issuance of Capacity Notices to 63 shipbuilding facility profiles that did not meet the conditions for issuance according to regulations, creating conditions for these facilities to operate illegally.
With this violation, defendant Tran Ky Hinh was prosecuted by the People’s Procuracy for the crimes of “Accepting bribes” and “Abusing position and power while performing official duties”.
Also admitted the behavior as charged, but Defendant Dang Viet Ha (former Director of the Department of Registration from August 2021 to December 2022) said that he did not propose a policy requiring his subordinates to increase his benefit level to the highest. Defendant Ha accepted responsibility for the amount of 40 billion VND received in bribes at the Department of Registration and more than 8.5 billion VND that he personally benefited from.
Defendant Dang Viet Ha. Photo: VD
Regarding the act of asking defendant Lai Thai Phong (former Deputy Chief of Office of the Vietnam Registry) to give 100 thousand USD to defendant Nguyen Van Chung (Director of ATS Company) to “listen” to see what violations the police were handling at the registration centers, defendant Ha stated that at that time, he was panicking and not sober, so he asked Phong to find someone to help him find information.
In court, defendant Ha stated that his family had paid for repairs three times, but he could not remember the total amount.
Defendants in court. Photo: VD
As for the defendant Tran Anh Quan (former Acting Head of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Department, Vietnam Register), he was forced to take responsibility for the bribe amount received at the Register Department of more than 60 billion VND.
In court, although admitting to the crime, defendant Quan said he had no intention of accepting bribes at the Registry Department, so he was only responsible for the amount of money he benefited, which was more than 11.7 billion VND.
However, according to the panel of judges, the above amount is only the amount of profit. The indictment alleges that the defendant must bear general responsibility because of the policy of the Department of Registration. Although the defendant said there was no policy, the investigation agency has proven that there was such a policy.
Further, defendant Quan said that before the trial, his family had returned the entire amount of benefits of more than 11.7 billion VND…