On 9/9, the trial of 29 defendants in a series of five bidding violations related to public investment projects involving Thuan An Group continued with the prosecutor's questioning.

In this case, Thuan An chairman Nguyen Duy Hung is charged with violating bidding regulations, causing serious consequences by "taking advantage of close relationships" with several leaders to interfere with and influence local authorities and the former Ministry of Transport. This helped Thuan An Group gain favorable conditions to participate in bidding and construction, causing more than 120 billion VND in losses to the state.

Thuan An Group chairman escorted to court. Photo: Pham Du

Thuan An Group chairman escorted to court. Photo: Pham Du

During more than an hour of questioning yesterday morning, Mr. Hung meticulously explained the violations in the five projects and admitted to the alleged losses. Today, the procuracy did not delve into these details, but instead raised questions about the important lessons for Thuan An and businesses in general regarding bidding activities.

The procuracy emphasized that businesses "must act properly."

Recognizing that this trial is not only for punishing and educating individuals who committed violations, but also for drawing general preventive lessons, the procuracy asked Mr. Hung to "present any remaining concerns."

After a few seconds of thought, the Thuan An chairman explained some existing issues in bidding. Essentially, state-funded bidding packages "are almost always assigned to contractors."

Using the Dong Viet bridge project (Bac Giang) as an example, Mr. Hung explained that when he learned about the project, he proactively invited several contractors to form a consortium to participate in the bidding. However, upon hearing this, the contractors all asked in return, "Do you have the support of the province and the investor?" When Mr. Hung replied that he "hadn't met" with provincial leaders, all these contractors refused to participate.

From this, Mr. Hung observed that in the context of the "long-standing ask-give mechanism," deeply ingrained in the thinking of contractors, creating fairness and transparency in bidding is "very difficult."

Hung affirmed that his group "has the brand and capacity" in transportation projects nationwide, and despite being prosecuted, still enjoys the trust of large private investors. However, with state agencies and projects, even with capacity, contact with leaders is still necessary, and such contact will be considered a bidding violation.

The procuracy asked Hung to stop and analyzed that the state already has "relatively strict" legal regulations to ensure civilized, lawful, and transparent bidding, including prohibited acts, but the defendant still violated them. "In layman's terms, the defendant has trampled on the regulations," the procuracy stated.

The procuracy recognized that the ask-give mechanism has existed for a long time, and its removal will take time, and "businesses must also take the lead in this matter, they must act properly."

A representative of the Hanoi People's Procuracy exercises the right to prosecute at the court. Photo: Danh Lam

A representative of the Hanoi People's Procuracy exercises the right to prosecute at the court. Photo: Danh Lam

Hung then expressed his hope that his case would serve as a warning to businesses participating in state-funded projects nationwide. He urged them to proactively avoid illegal acts and to form consortiums to bid transparently, ensuring long-term legal certainty and safety for businesses. He hopes for a level playing field for contractors to freely choose projects and participate in bidding legally.

Regarding the damages in the case, the Thuan An chairman admitted his leading role and acknowledged his significant responsibility, affirming his determination to fully compensate for the losses. Yesterday in court, the defendant's wife agreed with her husband and voluntarily offered their seized assets to cover the damages.

Despite repeatedly asserting the group's capabilities, according to the indictment of the Supreme People's Procuracy, in the related projects under trial, this group was repeatedly deemed "incapable."

In the Dong Viet bridge project, Thuan An had to find a technically proficient business but "without connections to leaders" to carry out the project, while Thuan An would handle the "relationships."

In some self-constructed items, despite relaxed standards, Thuan An still lacked capacity and had to falsify construction contracts, claiming to have completed a project in Ninh Thuan 10 years prior, which was not true.

Similarly, in the Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho expressway project, due to lacking construction capacity, Thuan An had to partner with another business. If they won the bid, the partner would do the work, while Thuan An would only supply materials. They also discussed finding additional "dummy bidders" and devising bidding strategies to "stage" the bidding process.

Delivering heavy gift bags without knowing they contained money

According to the procuracy's accusations and Hung's admission yesterday, for "every bidding package they worked on," Thuan An Group would "support" the project management board with "working capital," usually 3% of the pre-tax payment, not including gifts to other officials.

In court, besides Mr. Hung admitting to bringing money as gifts, other leaders at this group mostly claimed to have "carried heavy gift bags to give, but didn't know there was money inside."

Nguyen Khac Man, deputy general director of Thuan An Group, testified that he was instructed by chairman Hung several times to carry "gift bags weighing about one kilogram" to give along with an accounting staff member, but insisted that he didn't know what was inside at the time, only thinking it was a valuable gift. When working with the investigating agency, upon being asked, "Did you think it was money?", Man answered, "Yes."

Defendant Nguyen Khac Man, deputy general director of Thuan An Group. Photo: Danh Lam

Defendant Nguyen Khac Man, deputy general director of Thuan An Group. Photo: Danh Lam

Defendant Hoang Thi Le Hanh, head of the planning and accounting department at Thuan An Group, was accused of not only collaborating in fraudulent bidding activities, but also creating and tracking a file of payments to individuals in the project management board, submitting it to general director Tran Anh Quang for approval in batches. Hanh or other staff would then directly deliver the commission payments to these officials.

In court, Hanh testified that she "only created one file" with names and titles in the project management board as read by Quang, letting the Excel file "automatically calculate the amounts." She then printed it and submitted it to Quang, not knowing what the percentages or amounts represented. "Perhaps they wanted to be discreet with the recipients, as they might be embarrassed since not only I delivered, but many others did as well," Hanh speculated.

The defendant admitted to occasionally attending meetings with the project management board. Hung and Quang would often give her a bag, a set of documents to deliver to the board's leaders, and she would deliver them and leave, "not knowing what was inside." Like other group employees, she maintained that she "only learned it was money when working with the investigating agency."

Regarding this testimony, presiding judge Vu Quang Huy asked, "So, are you claiming to be wrongly accused? You delivered a bag without knowing what was inside, entered data without knowing it was commission payments to leaders, so you are wrongly accused?" Hanh hastily replied, "Not wrongly accused," only "unaware of the recipients' circumstances, completely passive."

The presiding judge then analyzed, "It's just that the defendants have done this too many times, considering it a precedent and not seeing it as wrong. You were all aware, but because you did it so often, you considered it normal. When entering data that resulted in those amounts, you should have known what the money was for. You carried an envelope and claimed not to know what was inside?" Ms. Hanh remained silent and was then asked to return to her seat.

The trial concluded the questioning phase, adjourned this afternoon, and will continue tomorrow morning.

Thanh Lam