Hanoi (VNA) – A representative of the Supreme People’s Procuracy on July 17 proposedsentences for each of 54 defendants in the case of “repatriation flights”at the ongoing first-instance trial held by the People’s Court of Hanoi.

Accordingto the procuracy’s indictment, 21 of the 54 defendants were prosecuted for “takingbribes”. The investigation, prosecution, and open interrogation at the trial foundthat they had received money from representatives of businesses to propose,submit, and approve the distribution of documents to licence repatriationflights bringing home Vietnamese citizens from abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The procuracy's representative affirmed that the defendants’ reception of money in this casewas an act of taking bribes.

Amongthose prosecuted for “taking bribes”, Pham Trung Kien, former secretary of a deputyminister of health, committed a particularly serious act. He abused theposition and power he had been assigned with to cause troubles forrepresentatives of the businesses engaging in the repatriation flights so thatthe companies had to give money at his request.

Theprocuracy's representative proposed the jury impose a death penalty on Kien as hehad gained the biggest sum of money, over 42.6 billion VND (1.8 million USD).

For the remaining 20 defendantscharged with “taking bribes”, they were proposed to receive prison sentences of between 2-20 years. They include To Anh Dung (former Deputy Minister of ForeignAffairs), Nguyen Thi Huong Lan (former Director of the Consular Department atthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Vu Anh Tuan (former officer of the ImmigrationDepartment at the Ministry of Public Security), Do Hoang Tung (former DeputyDirector of the Consular Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and Tran Van Du (formerDeputy Director of the Immigration Department at the Ministry of PublicSecurity).

For 23 defendants accusedof “giving bribes”, including representatives of many businesses, theprocuracy proposed sentences ranging from 12 months of probation to 12 years in prison.

Itproposed four defendants be prosecuted for “abusing positions and power whileperforming duties” and given prison terms of between 2 - 6 years.

Four defendants were prosecuted for “brokering bribery” and were proposed to be given prison sentences of between 2 - 7 years, and two others for “swindling to appropriate assets” and penaltiesof 15 - 20 years behind bars.

The procuracy said that thisis a particularly serious and complicated case. The defendants had taken advantageof the COVID-19 pandemic to commit the crimes, which had occurred at manydifferent ministries, sectors, and localities. Most of the charges wereclassified as “particularly serious” and “particularly dangerous for society”.

The defendants takingbribes were those holding high positions and power in state agencies. After committingthe crime, there were signs of collusion with one another to conceal theircrimes. Some defendants did not make sincere statements or admit their crimes.

Theindictment read that under the Party and State’s policy, state agencies’arrangement of more than 1,000 flights to repatriate over 200,000 Vietnamese citizensfrom 62 countries and territories was a demonstration of the State’s humanitarian policy. Thepurpose of the flights was good, but this policy was stained by somedegenerate officials, eroding its reputation in the eyes of the people and theinternational community./.