On the morning of 18/8, Nguyen Ba Hoan, 59, who was deputy minister of interior at the time of his arrest, faced trial at the Hanoi People's Court. He was tried alongside Tong Hai Nam, former director of the Department of Overseas Labor Management, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and eight other former officials. All ten are charged with accepting bribes.

Eighteen other individuals, including directors and employees of labor export businesses, are also being prosecuted. Their charges include violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences and bribery brokerage. The trial is scheduled to last nine days.

The case spans from 2020 to 2025, during which time Hoan served as deputy minister of labor, invalids and social affairs. Hoan and his eight former subordinates at the ministry, including a department director and various section heads and deputies, are accused of creating obstacles for businesses seeking to send workers abroad. They allegedly demanded "facilitation fees" to expedite procedures, ultimately receiving over 30 billion VND in bribes.

Before the trial, the Prosecutor's Office noted that Hoan had repaid 15,81 billion VND to mitigate the consequences of his actions.

In a related matter, former deputy minister Le Tan Dung was identified as having received 500 million VND, which his subordinates shared with him from bribe money provided by businesses. However, the investigating agency determined that Dung was not assigned to oversee the Department of Overseas Labor Management, was unaware of the officials' extortion activities, did not conspire with his subordinates, and had no direct contact with the businesses. He voluntarily returned the entire amount received, leading to no grounds for criminal prosecution against him.

>> List of 28 defendants

Former deputy minister of labor, invalids and social affairs Nguyen Ba Hoan during his tenure. Photo: Hoang Trieu

The former deputy minister is accused of ignoring subordinates' harassment to receive shared funds.

According to the indictment, from 2017 to 2025, Hoan and eight officials from the Department of Overseas Labor Management manipulated the process of appraising applications for licenses to send Vietnamese workers abroad for 28 businesses, all to extort money.

Tong Hai Nam, then director of the department, is accused of instructing legal department staff to prolong the appraisal period. He allegedly repeatedly demanded that businesses submit additional information and documents or returned applications without valid reasons, creating difficulties to compel them to pay money.

The group of officials directly suggested and agreed with businesses on fees ranging from 250 million to 400 million VND for each new license application and 100 million VND for license renewals.

Hoan is accused of being aware of his subordinates' harassment of businesses but chose to ignore it. He subsequently received a share of the money from Nam, approximately 100 million VND per application.

For the program sending workers to South Korea, Director Nam allegedly instructed his deputies to establish procedures and licensing requirements that businesses could not meet. To operate smoothly, businesses were forced to proactively pay "grease money."

The prosecution determined that Hoan profited 16,33 billion VND, while Nam gained nearly 8 billion VND. In total, nine officials from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs received over 30 billion VND, and they have since repaid an amount exceeding this sum.

Hundreds of millions in fees burdened workers.

Three large labor export businesses involved in this case were found to have maintained two accounting systems, concealing over 1,240 billion VND in revenue. This resulted in over 240 billion VND in tax losses for the state.

Among the concealed revenue, the companies were found to have increased fees by 500 to 1.000 USD per worker. This additional income was used to fund "diplomatic expenses" and payments to leaders and officials within the ministry.

A total of 28 defendants and related individuals have collectively repaid over 251 billion VND to remedy the damages.

Thanh Lam