Court confronts former police officer over 'paper bag holding USD 140,000 or two cigar boxes' in alleged case-fixing

Accused of accepting USD 140,000 from a fake milk company to "fix a case" and then spending it all, the former deputy head of Vinh Phuc criminal police claims the bag contained no money, only two boxes of Cuban cigars.

Bui Quoc Hung, former deputy head of the Criminal Police Department under the Vinh Phuc Provincial Police (formerly), is currently on trial at the Hanoi People's Court, charged with fraud and appropriation of property. This relates to an unsuccessful attempt to "fix a case" for two directors involved in producing fake milk.

>>Find a complete list of 426 fake milk products here

The incident began in late 2025 when the Department of Environmental Crime Prevention and Control (C05 - Ministry of Public Security) inspected the factories and warehouses of Rance Pharma and Hacofood companies, seizing a large quantity of milk with signs of violation.

Fearing prosecution, directors Hoang Manh Ha and Vu Manh Cuong sought to "fix the case".

To access C05 leadership, a network of four intermediaries was established. Ha approached his close acquaintance, Pham Gia Khai, giving him USD 150,000. Khai then contacted businessman Nguyen Van Quan. Quan allocated VND 200 million, asking a third person, Nguyen Van Hoa, to connect with police officer Hung. Hoa kept one-half of the VND 200 million, giving the other half to Hung.

On 23/1/2025, at Hoa's garden house in Dong Son urban area, Phuc Yen city, Vinh Phuc province (formerly), Quan carried a paper bag containing USD 140,000 (equivalent to VND 3.5 billion) and gave it to Hung, requesting a meeting with C05 leadership.

Did the bag hold USD 140,000 or two boxes of cigars?

At the court session today, former police officer Hung denied the bag contained money, claiming it held only two boxes of cigars.

To clarify the truth, the Trial Panel conducted a public confrontation among the defendants and announced the results of the investigative experiment.

Following Hoa's testimony that he "opened the bag and saw two boxes of Cohiba and Montecristo cigars," presiding judge Nguyen Thanh Nha focused on the discrepancy in volume between the alleged gift and the bag.

"The combined thickness of the two cigar boxes is about 10 cm. The paper bag measures 30x25x8 cm. Do you think two cigar boxes could fill the bag?" the judge asked.

Defendant Hoa hesitated: "Your Honor, when the two cigar boxes were put into the bag, the bag was still wider... It could not fill the entire volume of the bag."

The presiding judge stated that the testimonies of Quan, Quan's driver, and the investigative experiment report all confirmed: Quan had arranged stacks of US dollar bills into the paper bag and personally handed it to Hung.

According to the indictment from the Supreme People's Procuracy, during the investigation, Hung had admitted to receiving USD 140,000 from Quan but later claimed he "left it in the car and it was lost."

Addressing defendant Hung, the Trial Panel analyzed: "You are an experienced police officer, deeply knowledgeable about criminal procedures. The argument that you left it in the car and lost it 'is truly illogical'."

C05 leader refused two times

Furthermore, the indictment shows that after being summoned for investigation into this case-fixing attempt, Hung transferred VND 100 million back to Hoa that same evening, instructing him not to disclose any information related to him.

In court, Hung claimed it was a Tet gift, not money for case-fixing, but the presiding judge questioned, "Why give a Tet gift a month early, and an amount of VND 100 million?" Hung received the money in January, knew the attempt failed, but held onto the money until April, only returning it after being summoned by the police. "If it was a Tet gift, why return it?" the judge asked.

The Procuracy determined that Hung received VND 3.5 billion to unsuccessfully fix a case but kept the money without returning it, hence he is prosecuted for fraud and appropriation of property.

The reason for the failure, according to the indictment and the defendants' testimonies in court, was the firm refusal of the C05 Ministry of Public Security leadership.

The case file and court proceedings recorded at least two instances where Director Tran Minh Le directly refused when the defendants attempted to influence the "case-fixing."

The first refusal, according to defendant Khai's testimony, occurred after he agreed to help the two fake milk company directors. Khai went alone to meet the Director at the Ministry of Public Security headquarters under the guise of handling a personal matter.

There, "conveniently," Khai proactively raised the issue of seeking help for the two milk companies and inquired about the investigation's progress. However, Director Le flatly refused to answer, rejected any requests for assistance, and instructed Khai to leave immediately.

"I don't know. Let the investigative agency do its job," Khai recounted the C05 Director's words at the time.

The second refusal took place on the afternoon of 20/1/2025, when defendant Hung brought defendant Hoa to the Director's office under the pretext of "paying Tet greetings."

There, Hoa explained that C05 had inspected and seized goods from the two milk factories and offered assistance to achieve a favorable outcome for the businesses. Once again, the Director responded as before.

According to the indictment, despite the C05 leadership's insistence on legal processing, Hung concealed information or spread rumors like "awaiting test results/awaiting processing" to avoid returning the USD 140,000 he received from the two milk company owners.

Hung is currently the only one of the 29 defendants who has not made any restitution.