The defendants have been prosecuted with different charges, including bribery, bribery brokering, power abuse, and property appropriation.

Among them are To Anh Dung, former deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Vu Hong Nam, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan; Tran Viet Thai, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia; Vu Ngoc Minh, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Angola; Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, former head of the Consular Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other former diplomatic officials and staff.  

The defendants also include Nguyen Quang Linh, former assistant to former Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh; Chu Xuan Dung, former deputy head of the Hanoi municipal administration; Tran Van Tan, deputy head of the Quang Nam provincial administration, along with former officials of several ministries, agencies and businesses.

A total of 105 lawyers have registered to defend their clients during the month-long trial.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, Vietnam had conducted many flights to repatriate Vietnamese nationals wishing to return home for safety reasons.

However, many officials colluded with businesses to cash in on these repatriation flights. To get the permission for running repatriation flights, these businesses gave ‘lubrication payment’ to a number of officials of relevant ministries, agencies and localities.

To ensure profits from the flights, these businesses raised airfares and other expenses, and as a consequence, people who registered for repatriation flights fell victim to these cunning acts.

Representatives of 16 tourism and service trading companies, with many of them directly involved in giving and taking bribes, have also been summoned to the courtroom during the trial by the Hanoi People’s Court.

Source: VOV