On July 14, the Military Court of Military Region 7 continued to hear cases of smuggling, accepting bribes, and organizing people to flee abroad illegally...
At the end of the questioning, the court announced the transition to the argument. At the beginning, the representative of the Procuracy proposed sentences for the 14 defendants.
The maximum recommended sentence is life in prison
In this case, 12 out of 14 defendants were prosecuted for accepting bribes. In particular, the Procuracy proposed to sentence Mr. Le Van Minh (former commander of Coast Guard Region 4) to 15-17 years in prison; Mr. Le Xuan Thanh (former commander of Coast Guard Region 3) 15 years in prison, Mr. Pham Van Tron (former Commander of the Border Guard of Tra Vinh province) 9-11 years in prison...
Eight other defendants, mostly known to former soldiers of the border guard and police, were given sentences ranging from 24 months in prison but were given suspended sentences of up to 17 years in prison, for the same crime mentioned above.
As for Mr. Nguyen The Anh - former commander of the Border Guard of Kien Giang province, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes and 1-2 years in prison for organizing others to flee abroad illegally. The total proposed penalty is life imprisonment.
Defendant Phung Danh Thoai - former head of the Petroleum Department, Logistics Department, Coast Guard Command, is the only person prosecuted for smuggling, with a proposed sentence of 7-9 years in prison.
In addition, defendant Cao Phuoc Hoai (freelance worker, residing in Binh Dinh) was sentenced to 6-7 months in prison for failing to report a crime.
According to the prosecution, from March 2020 to February 2021, Phan Thanh Huu (director of Phan Le Hoang Anh Trading Co., Ltd.) and his accomplices smuggled nearly 200 million liters of gasoline, worth about 2,900 billion VND.
The Military Procuracy accused Phung Danh Thoai of contributing 5 billion VND to Huu's group to smuggle gasoline from abroad into Vietnam for consumption. Up to the time of discovery, Mr. Thoai and Huu's group smuggled more than 198 million liters of RON 95-III gasoline, with a total value of nearly 2,800 billion VND, of which more than 196 million liters were consumed. Huu benefited 105 billion VND, Mr. Thoai more than 22 billion VND...
In addition, in order to smuggle gasoline in large quantities over a long period of time without being inspected or arrested, Huu and his accomplices agreed to pay bribes to many individuals from the coast guard and border guards. department, traffic police...
Among them, two former commanders of the Coast Guard region, Le Van Minh and Le Xuan Thanh, received bribes of VND 6.9 billion and VND 1.8 billion, respectively; Nguyen The Anh received 560,000 USD and 6.2 billion VND; Pham Van Tron - former Border Guard Commander of Tra Vinh province received 1 billion VND...
Procuracy: Former border guard colonel is not unjust
During the trial, some defendants objected to the Procuracy's accusations, including Nguyen The Anh (former colonel, former commander of the Border Guard of Kien Giang province).
This defendant repeatedly denied the crime, affirming that he did not know and had never received money from Phan Thanh Huu. The defendant also said that he was "forced to confess, forced to accept what he did not have, what he did not do", and even "dared to take his life to confirm".
However, according to the Procuracy, the case file shows that "boss" Phan Thanh Huu has made many statements to the investigation agency of Dong Nai Provincial Police and the criminal investigation agency of the Ministry of National Defense about his acquaintance and asked the defendant for help in smuggling gasoline.
During the investigation process as well as in court, Huu confirmed that he met The Anh twice and paid bribes to the former colonel 17 times, including many times to The Anh's cousin, Nguyen Van An.
The Procuracy representative also cited a number of records (Nguyen The Anh said that he was "forced to confess" - Reporter) showing that this defendant once confessed that he had taken money to "protect" gasoline smuggling activities. .
From the documents, evidence, electronic data and testimonies of relevant people mentioned, the representative of the Procuracy affirmed that, in his position as Deputy Chief of Office of the Standing Office of the National Steering Committee 389 and Commander The Border Guard Command of Kien Giang province and Nguyen The Anh both have tasks in preventing crime in general and smuggling in particular.
However, the defendant took advantage of his position and authority to make promises to Huu, through Nguyen Van An, to receive money from Huu with a total amount of 560,000 USD and 6.2 billion VND, to "protect" the gasoline trading activities. contraband.
After Huu and his accomplices were arrested, in order to hide their crime, The Anh suggested, guided, and gave money to An, through his organizational relationships, he helped An escape abroad.
In particular, the Procuracy representative assessed that the defendant had many achievements during his work and was rewarded. However, the defendant did not see that as a way to contribute and instead fell prey to material temptation.
"The defendant's behavior is particularly serious, with a sophisticated crime method of not directly accepting bribes but through Nguyen Van An as a helper..." - the prosecutor emphasized.