Big smuggling case at Nhat Cuong Company put on trial

Defendants at the court (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi – The People’s Court of Hanoi on May 5 opened a first-instance trial of a case related to smuggling and violations of accounting regulations which occurred at the Nhat Cuong Technic Co Ltd.

This is one of the five major cases which the Central Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention and Control has required to be tried as early as possible.

At the opening session on May 5, the trial jury announced a decision to cancel the trial against Mai Tien Dung, 38, head of Nhat Cuong Company’s used mobile business line, who died due to fatal illness.

Among 14 defendants put on trial, there are three women. All of the defendants have been held in custody.

Two defendants are charged with violating accounting regulations, causing serious consequences, who are Nguyen Bao Ngoc, the firm’s finance director, and Nguyen Thi Bich Hang, its chief accountant.

The 12 other defendants, along with Ngoc, are prosecuted for smuggling.

Regarding the charge of smuggling, the indictment said from January 2014 to May 2019, Bui Quang Huy, Nhat Cuong General Director, personally directed the company’s staff to conduct 2,502 illegal transactions involving the purchase and sale of more than 255,000 mobile phones and electronic equipment worth over 2.92 trillion VND in total (126.7 million USD) with 16 suppliers in Hong Kong (China).

Huy then contacted and hired smuggling rings to transport the products from Hong Kong to Vietnam and hand over to the Nhat Cuong Company for selling, with a total of 52,811 products sold at a total value of 307 billion VND.

As for the violations of accounting regulations that cause serious consequences, the indictment said in 2014, Huy instructed the firm’s employees to set up two different accounting systems, one for internal use and another fake one for public reporting.

The procuracy said that this is a banned act under Article 13 of the law on accounting, which caused a loss of nearly 30 billion VND in tax revenue for the State.

Huy and several other defendants are on the run and have been put on the wanted list by police.

The trial is expected to last one week.