Hanoi’s ex-Chairman sentenced to eight years in jail for abusing position, power

The People’s Court of Hanoi on December 13 sentenced Nguyen Duc Chung, former Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, to eight years in prison for “abusing position and power while performing duties” in a case related to the purchase of the water cleaning agent Redoxy 3C to purify lakes in the capital city.

Together with a five-year imprisonment term he received in December 2020 on the charges of “appropriating confidential state documents”, Chung has to serve a total of 13 years in jail.

Chung’s two accomplices in this case, Nguyen Truong Giang, former Director of Arktic Trading and Service Co., Ltd., and Vo Tien Hung, former General Director of the Hanoi Sewerage and Sewerage One Member Limited Liability Company, were imprisoned for four years and six months, and four years, respectively, also for the same count of “abusing position and power while performing duties”.

The court also ordered Chung and Giang to pay more than 36 billion VND (1.56 million USD) in compensation to the Hanoi Sewerage Company, noting that Chung's family had paid 10 billion VND, and Giang's family had paid 1 billion VND to the Civil Judgment Execution Department of Hanoi.

According to the indictment, in 2016, the Hanoi People’s Committee directed relevant units to tackle water pollution in rivers and lakes in the city by searching for suitable advanced technologies. Defendant Nguyen Duc Chung, then Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, chose the polluted water treatment technology of Watch Water Company (Germany), and placed an order for the production of Redoxy- 3C for use in the treatment of water pollution in Hanoi.

Chung then instructed defendant Vo Tien Hung to buy Redoxy-3C product through Arktic Company, an intermediary company where Giang acted as the Director, with the intention of gaining personal profit.

The procuracy held that the actions by Chung and the others have caused serious losses totalling over 36 billion VND to the State.