Defendant Nguyen Duc Chung, former chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, testifies at the trial. VIETNAM NEWS AGENCY
The Hanoi People’s Court on December 31 returned verdicts for seven defendants in the case of illegal interference in bidding activities, enabling Nhat Cuong Co to win contracts.
Nguyen Duc Chung, former chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, received three years imprisonment for “abusing position and power while performing duties”, and earlier was sentenced to five years imprisonment for “appropriating secret state files”, thus he was condemned to a total of eight years.
According to the indictment, Chung abused his position and power to illegally interfere in bidding activities for a deal on the digitisation of business registration documents in 2016 at the city’s Department of Planning and Investment.
Later, he asked the department to allow Nhat Cuong Co to pilot digitalisation of the bidding package for the personal purpose of making the company win the bid and enjoy the benefits, causing losses of over 26.5 billion dong ($1.16 million) to the state budget.
Chung’s activities were defined as violating bidding regulations, causing serious consequences, in accordance with Article 89 of the Law on Bidding.
Other defendants in the case were prosecuted for violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences.
They are Nhat Cuong Co director-general Bui Quang Huy – who held the highest role in the case, planned and worked with Chung to illegally act on the bidding; Nguyen Van Tu, Pham Thi Kim Tuyen, Pham Thi Thu Huong and Nguyen Tien Hoc, all officials of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment; and Dong Kinh Development and Investment Co business director Le Duy Tuan.
Tu, director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment and Hoc, department deputy director, caused losses of more than 18 billion dong.
Tuyen, head of the Trading Register Division, and Huong, chief of the secretariat of the department, were responsible throughout the entire bidding process for both 2016 and 2017, but advised and drafted proposals to illegally stop the bidding.
The trial said the consequences of actions by Tuyen and Huong were more serious than those of Tu and Hoc.
Tu and Hoc handed back 1.8 billion dong and 100 million dong respectively to have their sentences partially reduced.
Except for Chung, the remaining defendants must give back money ranging from two billion dong to more than four billion.
VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
