Today, the trial of Phuong, former director of Hue University and former rector of Hue University of Education, on charges of abusing his position and power to appropriate assets at Hue City People's Court, did not proceed as scheduled.

In January, when Phuong was arrested, authorities accused him and his subordinates of appropriating more than 2,6 billion VND from students while he was rector of Hue University of Education.

Hue University of Education. Photo: Vo Thanh

Hue University of Foreign Languages, part of Hue University, is recognized by the Ministry of Education and Training as one of the units qualified to conduct foreign language proficiency testing, organize foreign language assessment exams, and issue certificates.

To increase revenue from exam preparation and foreign language proficiency assessment activities, Hue University of Foreign Languages organized B1 exam preparation and assessment, issuing B1 certificates at a total cost of 4,9 million VND per student. This included 3,7 million VND for exam preparation and 1,2 million VND for the exam fee.

Phan Thanh Tien, deputy head of the Training Department, was assigned to directly contact and promote these services to other universities under Hue University. In 2020, Tien directly discussed with Phuong, agreeing that Hue University of Foreign Languages would allocate 30% of the exam preparation fees to support Hue University of Education.

Phuong agreed and instructed Nguyen Van Vinh to coordinate the implementation. However, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 prevented its rollout.

In 2020 and 2021, Hue University of Education offered two postgraduate courses, K29 and K30, managed by the Postgraduate Training Department. Ministry of Education and Training regulations for postgraduate graduation require students to possess a B1 foreign language certificate. Hue University of Education did not have the authority to train or organize B1 certificate exams for students.

In 7/2021, as the K29 postgraduate course prepared for their master's thesis defense and required a B1 English certificate, Phuong instructed Vinh to collect student applications and fees according to the prior agreement with Tien, without presenting this matter for discussion and approval by the university council. Each student was charged 7,5 million VND, exceeding the 4,9 million VND rate set by Hue University of Foreign Languages.

Le Anh Phuong at the time of his arrest. Photo: Tran Hong

Authorities accuse Vinh of collecting a total of 2,79 billion VND from 372 K29 students and over 5 billion VND from 678 K30 students. He transferred over 5,1 billion VND to Hue University of Foreign Languages, retaining over 2,7 billion VND in overcharged fees.

Regarding the overcharged amount and over 1,1 billion VND from the 30% exam preparation fee allocated by Hue University of Foreign Languages to support Hue University of Education, Phuong and Vinh spent over 759 million VND to compensate individuals who collected the fees. Of the remaining over 3 billion VND, Phuong received over 3 billion VND, and Vinh received over 64 million VND.

Authorities concluded that Vinh acted as an accomplice to Phuong in this case, and he faces the same charges.

Vo Thanh