Prosecution of group of reporters for extorting billions of dong

Knowing that a group of people from LHD Company were illegally dividing and selling land in Phu Quoc, a group of reporters Tran Tam Diep (born in 1984), Vu Van Nam (born in 1977), Le Nam Trung (born in 1976) and Le Tien Phong (born in 1986), all residing in Hanoi, threatened to extort billions of dong many times.

Defendant Vu Van Nam at the police station.

Defendant Le Nam Trung.

The investigation determined that around October 2021, the group of Dang Van Linh and Nguyen Van Nguyen of LHD Company was illegally dividing and selling land plots in Phu Quoc City, Kien Giang Province (now Phu Quoc Special Zone, An Giang Province), with the project "Phu Quoc Flower Village".

At that time, Nam was a reporter for a health and environment magazine, Phong was a reporter for the Vietnam and China Law Newspaper, and Diep was a reporter for VTC Digital Television. After discussing and agreeing, Nam made an appointment to meet Nguyen and threatened Nguyen's group with 300 million VND to not publish news about LHD Company's violations. Nguyen did not agree.

On December 7, 2021, Diep posted a report reflecting on the illegal subdivision and sale of land in Phu Quoc and mentioned the name of LHD Company that was doing it on VTC Channel. When he saw the report broadcast, Linh was afraid, so he went to Hanoi to meet Nam's group and gave them 500 million VND and promised to give each of them 3 plots of land at the "Phu Quoc Flower Village" project. After that, Nam, Phong and Diep went to LHD Company's office to receive 3 plots of land.

In March 2022, when Linh's group continued to illegally divide and sell land in residential area 3, Phu Quoc special zone, An Giang province, with the project "Cua Can Flower Village", Trung continued to publish a report to ask Nam to contact Linh to ask for money. If he did not continue to publish reports related to illegal division and sale of land, Linh would agree and transfer 400 million VND to Nam's account; immediately after that, Nam transferred 200 million VND to Trung as agreed.

Currently, the An Giang Provincial Police Investigation Agency has prosecuted and detained Nam and Trung; and issued a house arrest order for Phong to be investigated for the crime of “Extortion of property”. As for Diep, he has fled, and the police have issued a wanted notice for Diep.

An Giang Provincial Police request that anyone who is a victim in the above case come to the Office of the Investigation Police Agency of An Giang Provincial Police (Address: No. 507, Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Rach Gia Ward, An Giang Province) to meet investigator Major Loi Van Tri - Phone number: 0932.841.122 to report.

News and photos: TIEN TAM

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/khoi-to-nhom-phong-vien-cuong-doat-hang-ty-dong-a461703.html