In a major anti-graft crackdown, a Vietnamese court handed down lengthy sentences to high-ranking officials and businesspeople involved in bribery and corruption related to repatriation flights during the COVID-19 pandemic. The trial, which lasted over two weeks, led to the resignation of former president Nguyen Xuan Phuc earlier this year – an unprecedented move in a country where political changes are typically carefully orchestrated.
The verdict, announced on Friday in Hanoi, found 54 officials and businesspeople guilty of receiving, offering, or acting as intermediaries for bribes, as well as committing fraud and abusing their positions of power. Among them, four former senior officials at the ministries of foreign affairs, health, and public security were sentenced to life in jail, while ten businesspeople and civilians received suspended sentences.
According to the judges, the total amount of bribes involved in the case reached an astonishing US$9.5 million. “The bribe money was extremely huge … so much bigger than the average income of civil servants,” the verdict stated.
Notable among those sentenced were To Anh Dung, former deputy minister of foreign affairs, Nguyen Quang Linh, former assistant to the deputy prime minister, and Pham Trung Kien, ex-secretary to the deputy health minister. Kien, who received 253 bribes over 11 months totaling US$1.8 million, was sentenced to life in prison.
Dung admitted to accepting nearly US$910,000 in bribes, primarily at his office in the foreign ministry in Hanoi. He was given a 16-year jail term. Dung claimed he believed he was merely facilitating the repatriation of Vietnamese citizens from abroad by adding companies to the list of flight providers, but the court found that the officials had abused their positions and the pandemic “for personal benefit,” which severely undermined the public’s trust.
Vietnam closed its borders in early 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus and organized nearly 800 charter flights to bring citizens home from 60 countries and territories. However, travelers encountered complicated procedures and were required to pay exorbitant airfares and quarantine fees to return to Vietnam, as reported by official and social media sources.
During the trial, a businesswoman named Hoang Dieu Mo, who allegedly provided bribes to eight officials, admitted that bribes were necessary to secure approval and permission for timely flights. She was sentenced to seven years in prison.
A mother in Hanoi, who preferred to remain anonymous, shared her experience of having to spend up to US$12,000 to bring her teenage daughter back to Vietnam from a boarding school in Europe during the peak of the pandemic. She expressed her belief that severe punishment is necessary for the officials involved in the corruption.
The court emphasized that the defendants must be seriously punished for their actions, given the negative impact on the reputation of state agencies and the erosion of public trust caused by their corrupt practices.
(With inputs from AFP/ANN)
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