Police chief suspended following wrong prosecution of Saigon café owner

Lieutenant General Le Dong Phong, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Police, signed a decision to suspend Colonel Nguyen Van Quy, chief of the police bureau in Binh Chanh District, on Monday.

The suspension was imposed on Col. Quy so that competent agencies could clarify his mistakes regarding the controversial legal proceedings against Nguyen Van Tan, owner of the ‘Xin Chao!’ (Hello!) coffee shop opposite his station.

Lt. Gen. Phong slapped a similar penalty on Nguyen Hoang Tuan, a police official at the Binh Chanh police unit, for being involved in the misconduct.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Le Van Hai, deputy chief of police in District 8, was appointed on the same day to the position of deputy chief of police in Binh Chanh District.

Col. Quy has admitted his errors, asserting that they stemmed from his misunderstanding of the law but not from any personal motive during an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper after his suspension.

“I have acknowledged my mistakes. I was hasty and conservative in my job, leading to the wrongful charges,” the police official said.

He also extended his apology to Tan, hoping that the café owner would forgive him and his subordinates.

Regarding several rumors that Col. Quy took legal action against Tan so that he could purchase the land on which the café is located, or eliminate its potential competition with the cafeteria run by his wife at the Binh Chanh police station opposite, the policeman insisted that such accusations were false and baseless.

“I hope that the public will understand the true nature of my errors and will not make any groundless presumption, as it would affect the image of police officers and the people’s trust in authorities,” Col. Quy said.

“This is a lesson for me to learn from and an example for my colleagues to note down,” he stated.

He advised his fellow officers, in the event that he cannot continue working at the unit, to be more careful not to make the same mistake again.

On August 8, 2015, Tan opened his coffee shop in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, with a business license scheduled to be granted on August 19 and a food safety certificate on September 29.

Just a month into the opening, the café selling breakfast, lunch and coffee was inspected by officers from the police station opposite twice for lacking such documents, leading to them probing the case against Tan on September 25.

On March 11, 2016, the district’s procuracy issued an indictment against Tan for “conducting business illegally” and he was later prosecuted.

The case was officially canceled on Sunday following the directions of the Supreme People's Procuracy, as Tan was considered not guilty.