kude.punny

Prosecutors Seek Harsh Sentences At PMU 18 Bribery Trial

Prosecutors Thursday sought long jail terms for senior public officials charged with gambling and bribery at a trial in Hanoi though the defendants retracted their previous bribery confessions.

They asked for 22 to 25 years for Bui Tien Dung, the high-profile former boss of the Transport Ministry’s Project Management Unit (PMU) 18.

Two other PMU-18 employees, also charged with both counts, face jail terms of 12 to 14 years.

Prosecutors sought eight to nine years for three other people, including a policeman, for offering bribes.

Two others are charged with organizing gambling and face the prospect of seven to nine years in jail.

Prosecutors proposed the lightest sentence, a 30-36 month suspended sentence, for another PMU-18 staff charged with gambling.

They also sought fines ranging from VND10 million to VND2.207 billion.

Dung, 48, and two of his subordinates, Vu Manh Tien and Luong Manh Hoa, gambled away more than $765,000 on international football matches, the prosecution has said in its indictment.

The three also gave $73,000 in bribes in an attempt to clear Dung.

The scandal broke in late 2005, costing the transport minister his job and saw his deputy arrested last year.

Sudden U-turns

At the court Wednesday all the defendants charged with bribery pleaded not guilty, withdrawing their previous statements to investigators.

Dung had admitted to the police that he had asked some of the defendants to help him hand over bribes to senior police officers.

But at the trial he said he was “ready” to plead guilty of slandering those defendants.

Dung admitted to giving them the money but said it was to help them tide over financial difficulty or, in one case, pay for a trip to Hanoi to keep track of the investigation.

He had made the statements to the police because of a “low mental state” and “poor memory” after being arrested.

The others made matching statements in court: Ton Anh Dung, a businessman who had received $30,000, said he had used the money to pay for his sick child’s medical treatment.

Another businessman, Nguyen Mau Thon, claimed Dung had “lent” him VND500 million ($31,000) to pay his staff’s salary and buy construction materials for his projects.

Nguyen Dinh Toan, a former police lieutenant colonel, said Dung had given him $9,000 to ease hardships his family had been facing.

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