A representative of the Investigation Police Agency of the Ministry of Public Security said the amount of money in the case of giving and receiving bribes at the Consular Department (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is up to hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

At a press conference on June 30, Major General Nguyen Van Thanh, Deputy Director of the Investigation Police Department for Corruption, Smuggling and Economic Crimes (C03) of the Ministry of Public Security, said the bribery case at the Consular Department has resulted in the police prosecuting seven defendants for accepting bribes and three for giving bribes.

According to the police official, the defendants have admitted their crimes. The amount of bribe money was initially defined to reach "tens of billions of VND and hundreds of thousands of US dollars".

In late January, the Investigation Security Agency launched prosecution against many defendants related to the case of giving and receiving bribes at the Consular Department and related units and localities. 

In April, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung was arrested for investigation of accepting bribes. At the same time, Pham Trung Kien, an expert at the Department of Medical Equipment and Construction (Ministry of Health), and Vu Anh Tuan, former officer of the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security, were also arrested for involvement in this case.

Earlier, several officials of the Consular Department were prosecuted and detained for involvement in the case, including Director Nguyen Thi Huong Lan and Deputy Director Do Hoang Tung. Some businesspeople such as Hoang Dieu Mo, General Director of An Binh Commercial, Tourism and Aviation Services Co., Ltd, Nguyen Thi Tuong Vi, Director of ATA Vietnam Investment and Consulting Co., Ltd and Nguyen Thi Dung Hanh, Director of G Vietnam 19 Co., Ltd. were arrested for giving bribes.

This is considered a key case that is under the guidance and monitoring of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-corruption.

Doan Bong