Coast Guard commanders jailed for taking bribes from fuel smugglers

On Friday, Major General Le Van Minh, 57, head of Zone 4, was sentenced to 15 years while Major General Le Xuan Thanh, 61, head of Zone 3, was sentenced to 12 years by a military court in Hanoi.
Prosecutors said Minh took 6.9 billion VND (nearly $295,000) from Phan Thanh Huu, the leader of a gang accused of smuggling gasoline from Singapore, while Thanh took 1.8 billion of VND to “protect” smuggling activities “for a long time. involving many shipments per month.”
Colonel Nguyen The Anh, 49, head of border guards in the southern province of Kien Giang, was sentenced to life in prison for “taking bribes” and “arranging illegal escapes from the ‘foreign”.
Prosecutors said he received 19 billion VND from the same gang and, when it was busted, ordered and helped members flee abroad.
When the gang operated, Anh held many important positions, including deputy bureau chief of the National Steering Committee for Combating Smuggling, Counterfeiting and Commercial Fraud.
Colonel Phung Danh Thoai, 57, head of the petroleum unit of the logistics department of the coast guard, receives seven years for “smuggling”.
He had paid the gang 5 billion VND and received a gain of 22.3 billion VND in 16 months.
Ten others were sentenced from six months and 21 days to 16 years for “accepting bribes” and “failing to report crimes”.
Huu and his son had met with a number of officials since September 2019 and offered to pay them monthly bribes.
They smuggled gasoline from Singapore into Vietnam through the south and central coasts, which are guarded by Coast Guard Zones 3 and 4.
In February last year, Huu paid 38 billion VND in bribes to Coast Guard and Border Guard officials.
Huu and 72 other gang members were prosecuted earlier this month for smuggling, but not for paying bribes since they willingly provided the information.
They managed to smuggle over 204 million liters of gasoline between March 2020 and February 2021, earning hundreds of billions of VND.
Huu alone pocketed more than 105 billion VND.
Vietnam has sanctioned nearly 168,000 Communist Party members in its 10-year anti-corruption campaign since 2012.
A number of senior officials, including ministers and military commanders, as well as business tycoons, have been imprisoned.
The campaign continues.