Nguyen Van Hung, 55, former Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Nam Trieu One Member Limited Liability Company, along with Nguyen Ngoc Tinh, 38, former Chief Accountant of the company's X30 Enterprise, have been indicted by the Supreme People's Procuracy on charges of "embezzlement of property" and "abusing position and power while performing official duties".

In the same case, Le Tien Quy, 48, former Director of X30 Enterprise, faces charges of "embezzlement of property". The remaining 14 defendants, including Hung's subordinates and several business owners, are also charged with one of these two offenses.

Nam Trieu Company, a state-owned enterprise under the Security Industry Department, Ministry of Public Security, engages in various businesses, including shipbuilding, manufacturing license plates for automobiles and motorcycles, traffic signs, and trading certain products for the public security sector. X30 Enterprise operates as a direct subsidiary of Nam Trieu Company.

Prosecutors allege that from 2018 to 2024, Hung and Quy were responsible for executing economic contracts to produce specialized public security products. However, the two defendants did not organize in-house production as required. Instead, they outsourced manufacturing to external units and then legalized these arrangements through fictitious contracts for material purchases, inflating values and production costs.

Additionally, they reportedly used security land for cooperation, joint ventures, partnerships, and leasing as workshops and warehouses without declaring or accounting for these activities in the company's books. This scheme aimed to generate illegal "discrepancy" funds, causing a total loss of 23,8 billion VND to the state-owned enterprise.

Embezzlement from door handles, paint cans, to gun racks

During his tenure as Director of X30 Enterprise from 2018 to 2020, Hung allegedly engaged in fraudulent activities and embezzlement while fulfilling contracts to produce goods for the Equipment and Warehousing Department, Ministry of Public Security. He instructed the chief accountant and other accountants to inflate material values and falsify records and documents to withdraw funds.

Specifically, when the Equipment and Warehousing Department, Ministry of Public Security, ordered weapon cabinets, the supplier quoted door handles at just 5,100 VND per set. Hung instructed his team to inflate this price by nearly 4 times, to 19,000 VND per set, to pocket the difference and keep it off the books.

Similarly, for orders of professional filing cabinets requiring paint, steel plates, and wood, Hung directed his subordinates to contact external suppliers to negotiate inflated prices and arrange advance payments. However, when collecting materials, Hung would cite various reasons to take less than agreed and demand a refund, without adjusting the original contracts.

For instance, in 2/2021, when signing a contract to purchase 161 tons of steel plates for cabinet production for the Equipment and Warehousing Department, Ministry of Public Security, Hung instructed staff to pay the supplier over 3,8 billion VND immediately.

But upon delivery, Hung claimed the steel did not meet specifications, refusing to accept the final batch (over 28 tons) and demanding a refund.

Hung employed a similar tactic with paint for the cabinets. He signed a contract to purchase 8,6 tons of paint and 360 liters of solvent but only accepted 5,3 tons of paint and 200 liters of solvent, then demanded a refund for the unreceived goods.

For gun racks, Hung specified expensive wood in the contract, priced at 3,3 million VND per set. However, upon receiving the wood, Hung instructed the supplier to deliver a cheaper type, costing 2,8 million VND, and demanded the price difference be returned to him.

Even stickers for cabinet doors, with a unit price of only 9,500 VND per piece, were subject to Hung's embezzlement using the same method. The total amount embezzled during Hung's time as Director of X30 Enterprise is estimated at nearly 1,9 billion VND.

In 2021, upon his promotion to General Director of Nam Trieu Company, Hung's "embezzlement path" continued with larger contracts: producing mobile barriers and interrogation chairs for the Equipment and Warehousing Department, Ministry of Public Security.

At this time, X30 Enterprise was under the management of Hung's successor, defendant Quy. Hung knew that X30 Enterprise lacked the machinery, equipment, and personnel for direct production and would need to outsource. Nevertheless, he discussed with Quy and demanded that if Quy wanted the contract to produce over 3,000 interrogation chairs, he must inflate production costs. Specifically, the price per chair was to be increased from 15,8 million to approximately 19 million VND to extract the "difference" for Hung.

Quy agreed and followed Hung's instructions, seeking partners to sign contracts for product processing and material purchases.

Quy is also accused of instructing his staff to create a "fake" business plan to inflate the value of each interrogation chair to 19 million VND.

To conceal the outsourcing of production, Quy instructed subordinates to fabricate a list of 32 workers and create payroll records for them, claiming 850,000 VND per chair, totaling over 2,6 billion VND.

The procuracy determined that the defendants misappropriated 17 billion VND from the chair project alone, with Hung receiving 7,1 billion VND and Quy receiving 9,6 billion VND.

Similarly, when producing 1,000 mobile barriers, the cost for each barrier was inflated from 4 million VND to 5,2 million VND, resulting in a difference of one billion VND. Quy transferred the entire amount to the planning deputy manager of Nam Trieu Company, as per Hung's instructions, for "diplomacy and relationship" expenses.

Furthermore, from 2018 to 2022, Nam Trieu Company received several revenues from land leases, liquidation of steel plates, and aluminum for license plate production, but these were not accounted for in the company's financial records, causing a loss of 4,4 billion VND to the state.

During the investigation, the defendants and related individuals repaid over 10 billion VND to mitigate the consequences. Hung alone has repaid 4,5 billion VND, while Quy has only repaid over 400 million VND.

The Hanoi People's Court will hear the case in the near future.

Hai Thu