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Previously, during the interrogation, defendant Tran Ky Hinh (former Director of the Vehicle Registration Department from January 2014 to July 2021) admitted to the acts as charged in the indictment.
However, this defendant affirmed that he was only responsible for the amount of more than 7.1 billion VND that he personally benefited from, and 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 2.8 billion VND and 12,000 USD.
Defendant Tran Ky Hinh. Photo: PT
Also admitting to the behavior as charged in the indictment, defendant Dang Viet Ha (former Director of the Vehicle Registration Department from August 2021 to December 2022) said that he did not require his subordinates to increase his benefit level to the highest level.
Initially, 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.
However, during the Q&A session with the lawyer, defendant Ha suddenly “turned around”, only accepting responsibility as the leader and the amount of more than 8.5 billion VND that he personally received. Regarding the 40 billion VND that the prosecutor accused him of being jointly responsible for, the defendant did not agree because “Do not direct subordinates to accept bribes”.
Regarding the act of asking defendant Lai Thai Phong (former Deputy Chief of Office of the Department of Registration) 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 panicked and not sober, so he found someone to investigate the information.
The defendants, who were former vehicle inspectors, all stated that the bribery from vehicle owners was carried out under the direction of the center’s leadership.
According to the investigation results, at the 50-05V Vehicle Inspection Center, after receiving instructions from the director to accept bribes, the inspectors were assigned to go to the cabin to check whether the car owner had put money in places such as the gear lever, storage compartment or in a cigarette pack. If so, the inspectors would turn on the lights to signal each other, so that the inspection process would ignore the vehicle’s substandard errors.
In case there is no money on the vehicle, the inspectors will carefully check and record all errors, print the first inspection certificate.not achieved” and require the car owner to fix these errors before allowing the second inspection.
At the 50-06V Inspection Center, when the vehicle enters, the inspector will go up to the cabin to check. If there is money left, he will turn on the headlights and hazard lights. If there is no bribe money on the vehicle, the inspector will only turn on the hazard lights.
Therefore, to pass the inspection process, most vehicle owners have to leave money on the vehicle and bribe the inspectors.