After two days of trial, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court today sentenced six defendants, including Tuoi Tre’s journalist Hoang Khuong, over a bribery case at a traffic police team in the city’s Binh Thanh District last year. The reporter denied the charge. Judge Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, the chair of the hearing, announced the sentences this afternoon. Accordingly, Tuoi Tre Newspaper’s journalist Hoang Khuong (real name Nguyen Van Khuong) was sentenced to 4 years in prison on charges of “giving bribes”. Khuong has vehemently denied the charge, maintaining he only made a journalistic wrongdoing and did not commit a criminal offense. The prosecutor’s office had earlier proposed a 6-7 year sentence to Khuong, but the court gave him a lighter sentence, saying his contribution as a journalist was an extenuating circumstance. Meanwhile, Huynh Minh Duc, former traffic police officer at HCMC’s Binh Thanh District, was given 5 years in jail for taking bribes. Nguyen Duc Dong Anh, who is Khuong’s brother-in-law and a friend of Hoa’s, and Tran Anh Tuan, vice director of Tan Hai Phong Co Ltd, were sentenced to 4 years and 1 year respectively for the same charge as Khuong’s. Ton That Hoa, director of Duy Nguyen Private Enterprise, and Tran Minh Hoa, the owner of a motorcycle impounded by the Binh Thanh police, got 2 years and 5 years respectively for brokering bribes.Honest motives in fighting corruption Khuong, who has been detained since February 2, asserted that he did not bribe anyone and that he only made the mistake of being involved in handing VND15 million (US$720) to Duc on behalf of traffic violator Tran Minh Hoa – an action that was only aimed at obtaining enough evidence for an exposé story about Duc’s corruption. The journalist said it is wrong for the prosecutor’s office to conclude that his acts were for his personal interest and beyond the scope of necessary journalistic activities serving the coverage. Lawyer Phan Trung Hoai, who defended Khuong at court, argued that Khuong had committed shortcomings during his coverage against a corrupt traffic police officer, but such mistakes did not constitute a criminal offense. Therefore, the lawyer proposed that the jury exempt Khuong from criminal responsibility and release him after 8 months of detention. In his last words before the court announced the sentences, Khuong said “If I had not written the two articles [exposing corruption], would I be standing in the dock now? It was purely out of professional shortcomings, with honest motives in detecting and fighting corruption in line with the Party and State policies, instead I had to suffer”. After Khuong ended his words, relatives, colleagues at Tuoi Tre newspaper and many other people stood up to cheer him, a rare event at court. As previously reported, the bribery incident involving Khuong occurred in June 2011 and was exposed in Tuoi Tre’s Vietnamese-language daily newspaper on July 10, and on TuoiTreNews (tuoitrenews.vn) under the title “Traffic cop takes bribe to return bike” the same day.
More
Vietnamese students create robot for elderly assistance
It can help the elderly walk, turn off or on electronic devices, and contact their family members in emergency cases
Highlights
Vietnam’s carbon market: Balancing finite credits and sustainable emission reductions
Vietnam is working hard to further develop its carbon market
Photos
Artist paints murals on house to raise awareness of COVID-19 prevention in Hanoi
He drew the virus, vaccine, and earth on the exterior walls of a house
Latest news
Masterise Homes tops out Marina Central Tower in Ho Chi Minh City
Grand Marina Saigon will be a place where the historic and the cosmopolitan merge to create a space
Vietnam’s carbon market: Balancing finite credits and sustainable emission reductions
Vietnam is working hard to further develop its carbon market
24-hour weak water pressure alerted in Ho Chi Minh City districts this weekend
Parts of three districts will experience weak water pressure for 24 hours
Swine fever hits local pig farm in northern Vietnam
The outbreak was detected at a pig farm owned by Le Van Kham, residing in Tien Phong Commune, Quang Yen Town
Hanoi conducts emergency drill on 2nd metro line ahead of commercial operation
Its commercial operation is scheduled for July
Ho Chi Minh City fest sets Vietnam’s record for display of 150 'banh mi' fillings, side dishes
Its expansive 'banh mi' model features an assortment of variants of the dish
Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News - May 18
Good morning from Vietnam!
Ho Chi Minh City earmarks $25.6mn for solar panels at 440 public offices
These rooftop solar panels will generate a total capacity of 43.3 MWp
World’s biggest jeweler Pandora starts work on $150mn factory in Vietnam’s Binh Duong
Pandora will only use recycled silver and gold as the input materials at the new facility
Vietnamese airport opens private spaces for nursing mothers
The airport’s six breastfeeding rooms, located near entrance gates and the waiting area, are soundproof and equipped with fans and comfortable seats