On the morning of December 24, the Hanoi People's Court brought 17 defendants in the second phase of the "rescue flight" to trial under the first instance procedure. In this case, Mr. Tran Tung, former Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province, was brought to trial for two crimes: "Accepting bribes" and "Abusing position and power while performing official duties".

According to the accusation, implementing the Government's policy of receiving Vietnamese citizens returning from abroad by paying for medical quarantine at hotels, the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province has issued plans to ensure medical care to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic for foreigners entering Vietnam.

Accordingly, the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province assigned the Department of Foreign Affairs to be the focal point to compile the list and records of agencies, organizations, and enterprises requesting entry for foreigners and to assess the plans to welcome people of the units.

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Defendant Tran Tung answers questions in court. Photo: CTV

At the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province, Mr. Tran Tung was then the deputy director assigned to carry out this task. Mr. Tran Tung was accused of receiving bribes 3 times, totaling more than 4.4 billion VND from Mr. Le Van Nghia, Director of Nhat Minh Company.

In addition, Mr. Tran Tung also took advantage of his position and power while performing official duties to advise and propose to the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province to carry out 7 flights of Ms. Bui Thi Kim Phung (representative of Fujitravell Company, Japan), benefiting from more than 3.2 billion VND.

Responding to questioning in court, defendant Tran Tung admitted to taking money and said that at that time, he did not realize that taking money was wrong. “Organizing for citizens from abroad to return to Thai Nguyen for quarantine, I saw this as an opportunity to make money,” defendant Tran Tung testified in court.

Mr. Tran Tung also admitted that, before carrying out the work of organizing the quarantine for citizens from abroad to Thai Nguyen, the defendant surveyed other units for prices, and based on that, calculated to come up with a figure, so that he could make a profit. Therefore, the defendant gave a figure so that after deducting the costs, he would have enough money left over to "pocket".

Defendant Tran Tung admitted that defendant Tran Thi Quyen (Director of Sen Vang Dat Viet Company) transferred him more than 2 billion VND; and Ms. Phung gave him more than 3 billion VND.

In response to the panel of judges' question about whether the defendant intervened or influenced En Viet Company to organize flights, the former Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Thai Nguyen province admitted that he signed an official dispatch to the Consular Department requesting permission for En Viet Company to conduct flights to bring Vietnamese citizens from Japan to quarantine in Thai Nguyen.

In connection with the case, Ms. Tran Thi Quyen (Director of Sen Vang Dat Viet Company) was accused of assisting Mr. Tran Tung in accepting bribes of 4.4 billion VND three times from Mr. Le Van Nghia. Ms. Quyen benefited from 300 million VND.

At the trial, defendant Quyen admitted to taking the money under the direction of Mr. Tran Tung, but did not agree on the money. According to Ms. Quyen's testimony, after receiving the money from Mr. Nghia, Ms. Quyen used it for quarantine expenses, and transferred the rest to Mr. Tran Tung.

Ms. Quyen stated that she received 300 million VND, paid by Mr. Tung. The remaining 300 million VND was intended to be spent on the brothers who carried out the quarantine work but had not been spent yet and the defendant returned the above amount.