Conspiracy to run away, the former court clerk blamed the victims for pushing him to commit crimes

On April 28, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City opened a first-instance trial against defendant Huynh Tan Dat (40 years old, former secretary of the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City) for the crime of “abusing positions and powers to appropriate assets.” property”.

Previously, at the end of November 2021, the trial was opened, but after questioning, the Trial Panel decided to return the file, requesting additional investigation to clarify a number of issues in the case.

According to the prosecution, defendant Dat was formerly the secretary of the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City, assigned to handle and classify appeals for criminal, civil and administrative cases. Through studying the appeal, it found that the phone numbers of the parties were listed, so Dat contacted him promising to help win the case or reduce the sentence but had to give him money.

In the first case, the People’s Court of Dak Nong province at first instance sentenced Vo Minh Hai to 2 years in prison, Vo Doan Cuong 1 year and 6 months for the crime of “organizing gambling”. Other accomplices of Hai and Cuong also received from 3 months to 1 year and 9 months in prison. After the first-instance hearing, the defendants filed an appeal to reduce the punishment.

Receiving the application, Dat actively contacted defendant Vu Doan Cuong promising to help him enjoy a suspended sentence with the condition that each person must share expenses with Dat.

Then, Dat gave his account number to the defendants to transfer money. The total amount Dat received to “run the sentence” for the defendants was up to 731 million VND.

On July 24, 2020, the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City held an appellate hearing, but none of the defendants received a suspended sentence as Dat promised.

In addition, Mr. Nguyen Van Ngoc (living in Krong No district) also became a victim of Dat. Accordingly, in October 2019, Mr. Ngoc lost the case “Dispute about land use rights and request to cancel the land use right certificate”, so he appealed to the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City.

Receiving the application, Dat called Mr. Ngoc to suggest “running the case”. Mr. Ngoc went to Ho Chi Minh City to meet Dat. At a coffee shop in Binh Trung Tay ward (District 2), Dat asked Mr. Ngoc to give him 200 million VND to help win the case.

Two times Mr. Ngoc delivered money to Dat, he wrote a receipt.

However, on June 19, 2020, the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City rejected the appeal, not accepting Mr. Ngoc’s request.

Losing the lawsuit, Mr. Ngoc called to ask for 200 million VND, but after promising, Dat locked the phone. After that, Mr. Ngoc filed a complaint against Dat’s behavior to the authorities.

The indictment also determined that the above work was done by Dat on his own initiative, not at the request or direction of anyone. In order to create confidence for the defendants and plaintiffs to make the transfer and give money, Dat took the initiative to show the Clerk’s card, confirming that he is currently working at the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City when he contacted and handed over the money. exchange with the victims.

At today’s court hearing, defendant Dat sincerely confessed to committing the offence. Being able to defend himself, Dat admitted that he broke the law. However, the defendant said that the reason he committed the crime was because the defendants pushed him.

“The accused committed the crime because of the victims, they wanted to make the impossible possible. They know their crimes well, but they still help the accused to commit crimes. I hope the jury will consider and reduce the punishment for the accused,” said defendant Dat.

Considering that the defendant’s criminal act is particularly dangerous and causes social disorder, it is necessary to have a severe sentence for deterrence and general prevention. Therefore, after considering, the trial panel sentenced the defendant Huynh Tan Dat to 13 years in prison.

Regarding the amount of money that Dat appropriated from the victims (931 million dong), the jury declared public funds forfeiture.

Thanh Phuong