Seventeen defendants prosecuted in phase 2 of the 'rescue flight' case.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has just issued an indictment in the case of receiving bribes, giving bribes, abusing official positions and powers while performing official duties, and concealing crimes, which occurred in Thai Nguyen and several other provinces and cities (phase 2 of the "rescue flight" case).

Seventeen people have been prosecuted by the prosecuting authorities, including Tran Tung, former Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province, for bribery and abuse of power while performing official duties, and Nguyen Xuan Thong, former police officer, who is being prosecuted for concealing a crime.

Former Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province, Tran Tung.

According to the indictment, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and became complicated, the Government directed the organization of flights to bring Vietnamese citizens from abroad back to the country to prevent the spread of the disease.

Specifically, the Government assigned the Government Office and task forces of several ministries, sectors, and localities to implement the flight permitting process and approve quarantine policies. Taking advantage of this policy and their assigned positions and authority, some individuals at the People's Committees of provinces and cities colluded with and accepted bribes, acting against their official duties to advise and propose the approval of policies allowing businesses to bring citizens back to the country for medical quarantine in their localities.

The defendants also directly or indirectly colluded with and agreed with officials of the Ministry of Health to give and receive large sums of money in bribes to obtain approval documents for citizens (individual passengers) to return on individual flights. Some defendants abused their positions to guide and incite related individuals to make false declarations, conceal crimes, and obstruct investigations.

In this case, defendant Tran Tung is accused of receiving bribes totaling over 4.4 billion VND from a business owner, and of abusing his position to advise and propose to the Thai Nguyen Provincial People's Committee on the implementation of 7 flights, thereby profiting 3.27 billion VND.

Nguyen Van Van, former Deputy Director of the Department of Health, and Le Ngoc Truong, former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture of Quang Nam province, are accused of receiving bribes of 450 million VND and 400 million VND respectively.

Former Deputy Head of the Air Transport Department (Vietnam Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry of Transport) Vu Hong Quang is accused of bribing Pham Trung Kien (a Ministry of Health official, a defendant in phase 1) with over 7.4 billion VND to obtain permission from the Steering Committee to allow 624 citizens to return home, profiting nearly 20 billion VND.

In addition, many of the defendants are business leaders who have been prosecuted for bribery.

Minh Tue

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/truy-to-17-bi-can-trong-vu-an-chuyen-bay-giai-cuu-giai-doan-2-ar903374.html