Mr. Lam Hong Son (holding flowers) at the public apology event. Photo: Nhat Huy
At the apology event, representatives from the People’s Procuracy, leaders of the Investigative Agency of the Public Security of An Giang and Long An provinces apologized to Mr. Lam Hong Son and his family for the wrongful prosecution and detention of Mr. Son. During the investigation of the case, the Investigative Agency and the People’s Procuracy of the two provinces determined that there was insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Son.
From this incident, the People’s Procuracy of An Giang and Long An provinces acknowledged that it was a mistake made by the prosecuting agencies and officials of the two localities. The harm to Mr. Lam Hong Son’s health and mental well-being caused by the wrongful prosecution and detention is difficult to compensate. To remedy the situation and address the wrongdoings, the representatives of the People’s Procuracy of the two provinces apologized to Mr. Lam Hong Son and his family. Through this case, the prosecuting agencies of An Giang and Long An provinces also sincerely took responsibility and committed to being more careful and thorough in performing their duties to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
At the event, Mr. Lam Hong Son requested the People’s Procuracy of An Giang and Long An provinces to promptly resolve his request for compensation. He asked for an immediate compensation payment as stipulated in the Law on State Compensation Liability. Mr. Son requested the People’s Procuracy of An Giang province to compensate him for more than 3.1 billion VND and the People’s Procuracy of Long An province to compensate him for 2.7 billion VND. He also requested that an apology be published in three consecutive issues of a central newspaper and a local newspaper. The representatives of the People’s Procuracy of the two provinces committed to compensating Mr. Son as soon as possible in accordance with the law.
Investigation discontinued due to lack of criminal offense
According to the case file: Around April 1988, the An Giang Police Command signed a contract with Mr. Lam Hong Son to establish a facility for processing animal feed. The An Giang Police Command was responsible for providing the premises and legal support, so they handed over the old reform camp in Chau Doc to Mr. Son for the construction of the enterprise. Mr. Son was responsible for capital, raw materials, equipment, and product distribution. Every month, he had to pay the Police Command 1.5 million VND. After the establishment of the enterprise, Mr. Son became its director. To support the operation of the enterprise, the An Giang Police Command provided initial capital of 2 million VND.
More than a year later, in 1989, the leadership of the An Giang Police Command continued to use this premises for a joint venture with a Thai partner, establishing Ancresdo Company for business services. Due to his business experience, Mr. Son was appointed as the director of Ancresdo Company and was allowed to open domestic and foreign trade accounts at suitable banks.
In early 1990, while Mr. Son was representing Ancresdo Company in fulfilling an iron sales contract worth 200 million VND between the company and the General Trading Company of Thu Thua district (Long An province), the An Giang Provincial Police notified that Mr. Son was not a member of Ancresdo Company.
In January 1990, the Long An Provincial Police initiated a prosecution and detained Mr. Son on charges of “fraudulently appropriating socialist property.” However, after five months of investigation, on May 16, 1990, the Long An Provincial Police decided to release Mr. Son and discontinue the investigation, stating that his actions did “not constitute a criminal offense.” After being released by the Long An Provincial Police, Mr. Son filed a lawsuit against the An Giang Provincial Police at the An Giang Provincial People’s Court, demanding compensation. In late November 1990, the court decided to accept the case.
While the court was handling Mr. Son’s lawsuit against the An Giang Provincial Police, on December 14, 1990, the Investigative Agency of the An Giang Provincial Police again decided to prosecute and detain Mr. Son on charges of “abusing trust to appropriate socialist property.”
The representatives of the People’s Procuracy of An Giang and Long An provinces committed to compensating Mr. Lam Hong Son in accordance with the law.
The Investigative Agency of the An Giang Provincial Police argued that to support the operation of the enterprise, the An Giang Police Command provided initial capital of 2 million VND. In addition, in June and December 1988, Mr. Son borrowed from the Police Command on two occasions, totaling 5 taels of 24K gold, with an interest rate of 6% per month. Mr. Son used this money for factory renovation and purchasing raw materials for production.
During the operation of the enterprise, Mr. Son made contract payments and repaid capital and interest to the Police Command, totaling 21.6 million VND. Mr. Son made payments on time in the first quarter, but in the following quarters, he failed to make payments and accumulated debts of 13.5 million VND, along with debts of 5 taels and 8 grams of 24K gold and 13 million VND in capital and interest. Additionally, the investigation agency claimed that Mr. Son owed a total of 32.6 million VND and over 12 taels of 24K gold to various units. In April 1989, he received 13 passenger cars but failed to pay taxes to the An Giang Customs, resulting in tax arrears of more than 36 million VND. The agency also accused Mr. Son of tax evasion.
After nearly a year of investigation, the People’s Procuracy of An Giang province determined that there were no signs of appropriation by Mr. Son. The debts were considered civil relations, and the tax arrears did not provide sufficient grounds to prosecute him for tax evasion. On November 19, 1991, the People’s Procuracy of An Giang province decided to discontinue the case and terminate the investigation against Mr. Lam Hong Son.
