Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has concluded its investigation and proposed the prosecution of 15 defendants in the Vietnam Oil case on charges of Violation of Regulations on the Management and Use of State Assets, Bribery, and Abuse of Power for Personal Gain.
Among the accused is Le Duc Tho, former Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee, who is facing charges for two offenses: Bribery and Abuse of Power for Personal Gain. In 2018, Mai Thi Hong Hanh, Director and Chairman of Vietnam Oil, established a connection with Le Duc Tho as the company had credit relations with the bank where Mr. Tho was chairman.
Defendant Le Duc Tho
In January 2019, Mai Thi Hong Hanh met with Mr. Tho at the bank’s headquarters, requesting a credit limit of 7,000 billion VND and an extension of the credit limit for Vietnam Oil. Mr. Tho agreed, and Hanh provided him with USD 100,000.
In 2020, Vietnam Oil wanted to “reconnect credit relations” with the Chuong Duong branch of the bank. Hanh gave Tho USD 500,000, and in return, he approved the extension of a 3,000 billion VND credit limit for the company.
Regarding the Abuse of Power for Personal Gain charge, investigators found that in 2021, when Tho became the Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee, he asked Hanh to establish a Vietnam Oil branch or subsidiary in Ben Tre to increase tax revenue for the province. In return, the company would be facilitated in implementing real estate, port, and tourism projects in the locality.
Following this request, Hanh established Vietnam Oil JSC in Ben Tre and applied for a loan. On several occasions, Tho met and called Nguyen Thanh Truong, the bank’s director, to request support for Hanh. When he learned that the bank planned to charge a fee of 100 million VND for a premium account number for Vietnam Oil JSC, Tho asked Truong to waive the fee.
During the loan application process, the bank’s Chuong Duong branch approved a credit limit of 400 billion VND for Vietnam Oil JSC, with a collateral ratio of 50% and a 50% unsecured loan. However, the approval was not granted because the parent company, Vietnam Oil, was already receiving credit with an 80% collateral ratio and a 20% unsecured loan. The bank informed Hanh, but she requested a collateral ratio of 40% or higher to agree to the loan.
Nguyen Thanh Truong met with Tho and reported the situation. The Provincial Party Committee Secretary then instructed him to urgently evaluate and submit the dossier to the bank’s head office for approval of the credit limit as requested by Hanh. Subsequently, the bank disbursed a total of 892 billion VND in 20 loans to Vietnam Oil JSC.
During this process, Tho and his associates received gifts from Hanh on three occasions, including a set of Honma golf clubs worth 1.1 billion VND and a Patek Philippe Plus watch priced at USD 421,000. The second time, at the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee Guesthouse, Hanh gave Tho USD 200,000. In May 2022, Hanh gifted Tho a Mercedes-Benz S450 Luxury car worth 6.7 billion VND.
Regarding the total amount of USD 1,070,000 received from Hanh, including bribes and gifts, Tho confessed to depositing USD 440,000 at his brother’s house and handed it over to the police. He claimed to have spent the rest.
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