Of the 54 defendants, 21 are accused of “taking bribes” under Article 354 of the Penal Code, while 23 are charged with “giving bribes” under Article 364 of the Penal Code, four are charged with “brokering bribes” under Article 365 of the Penal Code and four others are accused of "abusing position and power while performing official duties" in line with Article 356 of the Penal Code. One defendant is prosecuted for the charge of "committing fraud for property appropriation” under Article 174 and another is accused of both charges of "committing frauds for property appropriation" and “giving bribes”.

The 21 defendants charged with "taking bribes" include Nguyen Quang Linh, former assistant to the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister of the Government; Nguyen Thanh Hai, Director of the International Relations Department of the Government Office; and Nguyen Tien Than and Nguyen Mai Anh, specialists of the International Relations Department of the Government Office.

Former officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who are accused of the same charge include former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung, former head of the Consular Department Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, former deputy head of the department Do Hoang Tung, former chief of the department’s office Le Tuan Anh, and former deputy head of the department’s citizen protection desk Luu Tuan Dung.

Also being accused of "taking bribes" are Vu Hong Nam, former Ambassador of Vietnam to Japan; Nguyen Hong Ha, former Consul General of Vietnam in Osaka, Japan; Ly Tien Hung, former official of the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia; and Vu Ngoc Minh, former Ambassador of Vietnam to Angola.

In addition, the other defendants charged with receiving bribes include Pham Trung Kien, expert at the Ministry of Health’s Department of Medical Equipment and Works; Ngo Quang Tuan, expert from the Ministry of Transport’s Department of International Cooperation; Vu Hong Quang, Deputy Head of Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam’s Air Transport Department; Tran Van Du, Vu Anh Tuan and Vu Sy Cuong, former officers of the Ministry of Public Security’s Immigration Department; Tran Van Tan, former Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam province; and Chu Xuan Dung, former Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee.

The four defendants charged with "abusing their position and power while performing official duties" specified in Article 356 of the Penal Code are Tran Viet Thai, former Ambassador of Vietnam to Malaysia; and Nguyen Le Ngoc Anh, Nguyen Hoang Linh and Dang Minh Phuong, former officers of the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia.

Of the defendants, 44 have been detained. A record number of nearly 120 lawyers will defend the defendants at the court.

The jury has summoned about 60 people having related rights and obligations, and 40 witnesses to the court.

According to the indictment announced by the Supreme People’s Procuracy, in January 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in China and developed complicatedly in the world. In March 2020, the Government arranged a flight to bring 30 Vietnamese citizens home from Wuhan, China. In April 2020, several repatriation flights were operated, and the passengers had to pay ticket fares.

In November 2020, due to the high demands of returning home among Vietnamese citizens abroad and limited resources, the Government piloted the operations of 10 repatriation flights for which passengers had to pay all the fees (combo flights), and assigned the task to a working group gathering officials from five ministries.

During the process of licensing the lights and approving the quarantine plans in localities from September 2020 to December 2022, a number of officials from ministries and sectors as well as individuals from businesses, along with other people, committed law violations.

According to the Supreme People’s Procuracy, 25 defendants abused their positions and power to receive bribes worth nearly 165 billion VND (6.96 million USD) while performing their duties, causing a loss of over 10 billion VND, while representatives from businesses gave bribes worth more than 226 billion VND (9.53 million USD), and four other acted as brokers for bribes of over 74 billon VND and committed frauds to appropriate nearly 25 billion VND.

The court is scheduled to last for one month./. VNA