On the afternoon of 10/3, the trial of several leaders and staff from driving training centers affiliated with Central III College of Transport, along with related individuals, began its questioning phase.

The judicial panel focused on clarifying the violations at the Center for Mechanical Transport Practice Skills. This center is one of four accused of issuing 3,800 fraudulent driving training certificates, out of a total of 16,000 certificates implicated in the entire case.

Bi cao Ho Van Bup tai toa hom nay. Anh: Hai Duyen

Defendant Ho Van Bup, the first to be questioned, served as the center's former director, appointed in 10/2021. The indictment identified that during his tenure, Bup directed numerous violations. These included not organizing centralized classes, providing insufficient practical training while still allowing students to take exams, and even falsifying records and exam papers for individuals who did not take the exams, all to issue certificates.

The presiding judge asked, "When did this policy begin?"

Bup replied that the practice existed under the previous director. When he took office, his deputy, Nguyen Van Duong, introduced the method and directly oversaw its implementation. Bup stated he approved its application.

According to Bup's testimony, the decision not to organize centralized classes stemmed from fierce competition among driving training centers. "If we followed regulations strictly, we would have no students and no revenue," the defendant stated.

Investigators determined that despite not organizing training according to regulations, Bup still directed the forgery of visiting instructors' signatures and created false teaching records to issue illegal certificates to over 3,800 students, causing damages exceeding 14,69 billion VND.

In court, Bup also admitted to directing the payment of commissions to individuals who referred students. To legitimize these expenses, he requested the use of 13,3 billion VND in fuel money, which was originally allocated for practical training instructors. He also instructed subordinates to purchase 421 bogus VAT invoices from two petroleum businesses to include in financial records.

Bup further testified that when the Tax Department sent an inspection team to the center, he proposed offering money to tax officials "for assistance in processing records." Initially, the defendant claimed these were merely "improper payments."

The presiding judge pressed further: "Of the 1,5 billion VND given to two tax officials, over 446 million VND was misappropriated by them. What was that amount for?" At this point, Bup admitted to the wrongdoing.

The defendant also disclosed that the center had a policy of collecting an additional 500,000 VND from students wanting "fast-track learning and testing," though some records showed collections of up to 1,5 million VND per person.

Cac bi cao tai toa hom nay. Anh: Hai Duyen

Subordinates deny former director's testimony

During subsequent questioning, defendant Nguyen Van Duong, the former deputy director of the Center for Mechanical Transport Practice Skills, claimed that parts of Ho Van Bup's testimony were "inaccurate."

According to Duong, when Bup assumed the director position, he organized a party meeting to hear reports on the center's operations. Duong stated he only presented the situation and proposed training methods, while the final decision rested with the director.

Duong testified that he proposed a method allowing students to self-study theory remotely instead of attending centralized classes. However, the presiding judge noted that the indictment did not mention any directives for online training.

When the judicial panel asked about students being allowed to take exams without full participation, or even passing despite failing, Duong admitted this situation occurred. Practical training was organized but did not fully comply with regulations.

The defendant also admitted to forging training records but claimed he did not initiate the policy of paying commissions for each student enrollment. According to Duong, this policy was already in place and "everyone knew about it," while the use of funds to legitimize improper expenses was the director's decision.

Regarding the money given to tax officials, Duong stated he did not know who proposed this policy and asserted that matters related to taxes were directly managed by Director Bup. The defendant also denied knowing about the 1,6 billion VND withdrawn for tax officials and disagreed with Bup's testimony that he had been informed of this transaction.

Other center staff members also admitted to the violations outlined in the indictment.

Authorities accuse four other centers of similar misconduct, illegally issuing over 12,000 certificates to students. These centers include: Thuan An Center for Mechanical Transport Practice Skills; Center for Application of Science and Technology and Construction Quality Inspection Consulting; Training and Testing Center; and the Driving Training Center.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court is trying the defendants for: Abusing positions and power while performing official duties; Forgery in work; Bribery; and Illegally trading invoices and state budget payment documents.

In connection with the case, Vu Duc Thieu (former Chairman of the Board of Central III College of Transport) and Hoang Van Tan (former Vice Principal, acting Principal) face charges of Abusing positions and power while performing official duties.

The Procuracy determined that leaders of Central III College of Transport failed to strictly follow internal regulations when assigning tasks and signing unauthorized power of attorney documents. Additionally, they lacked proper inspection and oversight of the centers' training management, record keeping, and testing activities.

Tomorrow, the court will continue questioning defendants from other training centers; the trial is expected to conclude on 20/3.

Hai Duyen