The judge shared sympathy with Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung in his trial
One of the trials of senior leaders in Vietnam in 2020, which is of great concern at home and abroad, can be said to be the case of former Chairman of Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung. He was brought to trial under the charge of “appropriating classified state documents.”
Former Major General Nguyen Duc Chung was arrested in late August and the trial was conducted in mid-December.
According to the indictment, Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung contacted an officer of the Police Investigation Department on Crimes on Corruption, Economic, and Smuggling of the Ministry of Public Security, named Pham Quang Dung, to access the secret documents about the Nhat Cuong case. This case is related to smuggling, money laundering, and violation of bidding regulations, causing serious consequences at Nhat Cuong Trading and Technical Services Co., Ltd.
In the trial on December 11, defendant Nguyen Duc Chung was sentenced to 5 years in prison for “appropriating documents of state secrets.” After the trial’s end, judge Truong Viet Toan, still dressed in the judge’s court uniform, came to shake hands, patted defendant Nguyen Duc Chung’s shoulder, and advised him to act properly in the next 5 years.
The move to comfort the defendant Nguyen Duc Chung of judge Truong Viet Toan was criticized by the lawyers as not being objective in the prosecution while public opinion thinks that it is offensive behavior.
After the trial took place, independent journalist Vo Van Tao, on December 14, spoke to RFA:
“Toan’s intimacy with Mr. Chung is an unprecedented behavior. I also have not read any documents that prohibit the intimacy between the trial panel with the defendant. But there is an unwritten principle that all participants in the Trial Panel are not allowed to contact and talk with the accused or the defendant in court. Toan’s behavior is very offensive and causes the public to immediately question the fairness of the Trial Panel.”
Meanwhile, from a legal perspective, lawyer Pham Cong Ut said that for Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung, this is the first case and the authorities have not considered further prosecution against him. Through personal experience, lawyer Pham Cong Ut said that normally if Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung is “obedient” then he would not face other allegations. If he is resisting, the investigation will be expanded.
Attorney Pham Cong Ut emphasized that there are also cases where, although the defendants did not resist the proceedings, their cases are still extended under the direction of the Politburo against high-ranking officials. And so, there will be further charges against Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung.
“Because, for an official, when the ‘hands are in indigo’, they don’t have to be embedded once in their whole life, but they can be embedded many times. This is just the beginning of the case of Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung who was also involved in two more cases and is under investigation. Nguyen Duc Chung may face imprisonment of up to 30 years. The first case with 5 years in prison if found to be mild. But the following cases are not likely to be the same.”
“According to my experience for many years, I have come to know that the ways out of court are all negative in order to be taken lightly. For villagers, stealing a duck is sentenced to 7 years in prison, while stealing state secrets is sentenced to 5 years in prison only. Which crime is more serious than what? That, the public can also see it. But it is impossible to explain why the official was sentenced to 5 years in prison, and the ordinary people were sentenced to 7 years in prison for minor crimes,” said attorney Pham Cong Ut
A figure at the ministerial level, former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa, was wanted by the International Criminal Police (Interpol). This is information given by the Ministry of Public Security and attracted attention at the beginning of December 2020.
Ms. Ho Thi Kim Thoa is accused of being involved in the case of former Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and his accomplices. All were probed for violations of the property management regulations causing asset loss occurred at the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Sabeco Saigon. This case is expected to be tried in January 2021.
Chief of the Ministry of Public Security’s Office, Major General To An Xo, at a regular government press conference that took place on the evening of December 2, said that Ms. Ho Thi Kim Thoa was accused of making mistakes in the “gold” land ay 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung, Ho Chi Minh City falling into private hands, causing damage to the State more than VND2.7 trillion ($116 million). However, the Police Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security issued a nationwide pursuit decision for Ms. Ho Thi Kim Thoa, in early September, and then Interpol also had a red pursuit against her.
At a press conference on December 2, Major General To An Xo added that Ms. Ho Thi Kim Thoa had left the country in early September and the Ministry of Public Security had not received any information about her arrest abroad. At the same time, the Ministry of Public Security asked the family to advice her to return to the country to surrender in order to enjoy leniency.
RFA noted that the information just mentioned made many interested people question whether the fate of Ms. Ho Thi Kim Thoa would be similar to the scenario of former oil and gas official Trinh Xuan Thanh. Trinh Xuan Thanh is believed to have been kidnapped by Vietnamese secret agents in Germany in July 2017 and later appeared on Vietnam’s state television, declaring that he had given himself up.
While the whereabouts of former Deputy Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa do not know yet, journalist Le Trung Khoa, editor-in-chief of thoibao.de newspaper, once updated the case of Trinh Xuan Thanh’s kidnapping in Germany, from Berlin said that there will be other officials in Vietnam continue to run abroad to escape accusations of corruption.
“In my opinion, issues like Vietnam’s anti-corruption are still going on. Because in reality, the anti-corruption in Vietnam is not dealt with in the ultimate and radical way of the problem. It is the mechanism of the monopoly, the dictatorship of the Communist Party of Vietnam that generates corruption because only cadres of the Communist Party from low to high can become corrupted; the larger the position, the more being corrupted. And this will continue to progress in the future, even after the 13th Party National Congress and even after Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong no longer serves as its general secretary. The situation of corruption will take place more discreetly and more difficult in the future against corruption. Therefore, officials continue to run abroad to preserve their lives and to prepare for safe retiring.”
Journalist Le Trung Khoa said that by observing the anti-corruption campaign in Vietnam, launched by General Secretary cum President Nguyen Phu Trong, he acknowledged the process of “burning the furnace” despite being strongly shouted, but the quantity and effect are not much. Journalist Le Trung Khoa said that the majority of people who were brought to court for trial belonged to former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s faction. And that was an “internal purge.”
“It is clear that the high-ranking officials whose court cases and accusations are made are very vague, such as ‘abusing their responsibilities and powers’… But there is no evidence for officials’ corruption or taking money like Mr. Dinh La Thang, bluntly said in the last trial in Saigon.”
Former Minister of Transport and Transport Dinh La Thang affirmed that he was not guilty in the case related to Yen Khanh Company.
The People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City, on December 18, asked the Trial Panel to punish Mr. Dinh La Thang, former member of the Politburo and former Minister of Transport and Transport for a 10 to 11 sentence of imprisonment on the crime of “violating the regulations on the management and use of state property, causing loss and waste.”
State media of Vietnam, on the same day of December 18, stated that Mr. Dinh La Thang affirmed that he was not guilty and said that the Procuracy had applied the law incorrectly. Mr. Dinh La Thang called for fair treatment of him. On December 21, Vietnamese state-controled media updated information that Dinh La Thang claimed there was no evidence to accuse him and the defendants and that the case had no damage. Mr. Dinh La Thang completely denied the prosecution’s allegations.
Journalist Le Trung Khoa explained about the protest phenomenon of Mr. Dinh La Thang in this accused time:
“In Vietnam, as we know there is no separation of powers, the sentences declared are often ‘pocket’ sentences. That is, the Communist Party of Vietnam has already determined the sentences for their officials before taking them to the court. As in the case of Mr. Dinh La Thang, they will try again and again. Or even Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung, I think they will continue to charge him.”
While former Transport-Transport Minister Dinh La Thang protested in court against his indictment at the appeal hearing which took place on December 11, the Central Military Court on December 11 sentenced former Deputy Minister of National Defense Nguyen Van Hien to six months in prison.
Previously, at the first-instance hearing held in the summer of May, former Navy Admiral Nguyen Van Hien was sentenced to 4 years in prison for “irresponsibility causing serious consequences” in the Dinh Ngoc He case, allegedly involved in the wrongdoings of defense land on Ton Duc Thang Street, Ho Chi Minh City.
Answering RFA’s question about the case of former Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Van Hien being reduced from his sentence, lawyer Pham Cong Ut said that he could not answer accurately regarding this case. However, it is possible that the sentence is “arranged” in what he calls “out of court.”
“Over the course of many years, I have come to know that the ways out of court are all negative in order to be judged lightly. To the villagers, stealing a duck is sentenced to 7 years in prison, while stealing state secrets is sentenced to 5 years in prison. Which crime is more serious than what? That, the public can also see it. But one cannot explain why the official was sentenced to 5 years in prison, and the people with low throat were sentenced to 7 years in prison for minor crimes.”
The report of the Government of Hanoi on the prevention and fight against corruption in 2020 shows that 82 heads and deputies of the heads are found to be irresponsible leading to corruption. Of these, 69 people were disciplined and 12 people were criminalized.
A resident in Saigon, unwilling to name, on the evening of December 23, shared with RFA her feelings while watching the trials of corrupt officials in 2020:
“In general, the current situation called anti-corruption or the balance of justice, people view the trials and find it ridiculous. Because for example, a businessman, taking a bank loan and making a loss is economically innocent and arrested and jailed, possibly life or death. Turn over the case like that of Nguyen Van Muoi Hai or Tang Minh Phung. They lost their land, property … and their lives. But for city leaders like the Nguyen Duc Chung case, ‘stealing classified government documents. It was a political crime, but was sentenced to 5 years in prison. … I consider the trials the tip of the iceberg, and the sinking part is unknown. The officials protect each other and try to impose slight sentences for the corrupted ones,” said anonymous Saigon residents
On the same day of December 23, Hanoi City Secretary, Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue, at the Conference summarizing the prevention and fighting against corruption of the capital from 2013 to 2020, deployed the task in the heart of 2021, stated that “anti-corruption can be considered a specialty of Hanoi.”
When referring to this information, anonymous residents in Saigon must tongue to say that the famous pho in Hanoi must now yield to “anti-corruption specialty of Vietnam.”
Thoibao.de (Translated)
