The actions of Le Hong Son (former Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training), Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and General Director of AIC Company), and 14 other defendants are outlined in the indictment recently issued by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Procuracy, charging them with "violations of bidding regulations causing serious consequences."

This is the 6th case in which Nhan has been prosecuted in connection with a series of violations during her management of AIC. Previously, in March, she was tried in absentia and sentenced to 10 years in prison in the 5th case, with a combined sentence of 30 years from other cases (the maximum prison sentence).

Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan before being prosecuted and a warrant issued for her arrest. Photo: AIC

Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan before being prosecuted and a warrant issued for her arrest. Photo: AIC

In the case related to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, Nhan is identified as the mastermind along with Nguyen Thi Tich (General Director of Mopha Company, Head of Department at AIC), Tran Dang Tan (Head of AIC's representative office in Ho Chi Minh City), and three other defendants who are currently fugitives. The prosecuting authorities stated that they have taken measures to ensure the right to defense for these defendants. If they do not surrender, they will be considered to have waived their right to self-defense and will be prosecuted and tried in absentia.

The indictment states that Nhan directed the establishment of a group of "puppet" companies to participate in bidding nationwide, engaging in bid rigging and fraud.

In Ho Chi Minh City, from 2012 to 2017, she assigned Hoang Thi Thuy Nga (Head of Project Management 1 at AIC) to be in charge of the education sector and Tran Dang Tan to be in charge of the health sector. They used the legal entities of companies within the AIC ecosystem as "puppets," colluding with valuation enterprises, consulting companies, and investor units.

The bidding documents of the "puppet" companies were prepared in advance by the AIC department in Hanoi, intentionally lacking criteria and submitting high bids to be eliminated, while AIC's financial reports were edited and inflated to meet requirements.

Authorities believe that with this scheme, AIC won 230 bids in Ho Chi Minh City, including education (134 bids), health (94 bids), and environment (two bids). Of these, 171 bids caused a loss of 145 billion VND to the State.

Specifically regarding the 134 bids in the education sector, at the time of the incident, Le Hong Son, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, along with Deputy Director Le Hoai Nam, Chief of Office Le Phuong Nga, and several leaders and officials of District 5 Department of Education are accused of not complying with the Law on Bidding, with 131 bids causing a loss of 142 billion VND to the state budget.

Le Hong Son, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, at the People's Council meeting in 12/2019. Photo: Quynh Tran

Le Hong Son, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, at the People's Council meeting in 12/2019. Photo: Quynh Tran

The former director of the Department of Education is accused of intervening to help AIC win bids.

Before implementing the bidding packages, Hoang Thi Thuy Nga and her staff contacted leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training to create favorable conditions for AIC. They then met with Director Le Hong Son, Deputy Director Le Hoai Nam, and specialist Tran Trong Nhon Hoa to give gifts, introducing themselves as AIC staff in charge of liaison.

The procuracy determined that Le Hong Son, as Director of the Department, signed documents advising Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Hua Ngoc Thuan to issue directives assigning the district departments of education and training—units lacking sufficient personnel, experience, and bidding certificates—as investors.

For the bids where the Department of Education and Training was the investor, Son is accused of signing direct awards, valuations, and consulting contracts in violation of regulations, and using an unqualified expert panel, causing losses of 763 million VND.

Following Son's direction, District 5 Department of Education and Training piloted the procurement of equipment from AIC. Although the bidding results were not yet available, following instructions from superiors, specialists from the department still coordinated and received information and bidding procedures from AIC staff via email. Procurement under this bid caused a loss of 4.2 billion VND to the State.

Similarly, other district departments of education were also asked to carry out bidding through direct procurement, applying the prices and equipment types from the District 5 Department of Education and Training bid that had been implemented previously—an illegal intervention.

In addition, Son proposed expanding the investor pool to include high schools (which also did not meet bidding conditions) and suggested increasing the quantity of equipment to be purchased, leading to more violations in bidding packages.

Authorities accuse Son of being responsible for losses from 129 bids by 23 district departments of education and training and 89 high schools, totaling over 137 billion VND.

Le Hoai Nam, as the deputy director, is accused of issuing documents guiding 89 high schools to carry out direct procurement. Nam is held responsible for losses from these bids, totaling 28.71 billion VND.

Regarding the violations in equipment procurement, many officials and leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Office and related departments committed violations. However, the investigating agency determined that these individuals acted on instructions, only received salaries, and did not seek personal gain, so they were not subject to criminal prosecution.

Hai Duyen