Defendants in the court. VNA/VNS Photo

ĐỒNG NAI — The People’s Court of Đồng Nai City, on Monday, announced the first-instance verdict against 55 defendants in the case of smuggling over 200 million litres of gasoline from Singapore to Việt Nam after seven days of trial.

The defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one year to 4 years and eight months for the crime of smuggling.

Accordingly, defendant Chu Tường Vy, a manager of Phú T Company in HCM Ctiy was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.

Vy was accused of spending VNĐ60 billion (US$2.27 million) to buy 4.3 million litres of illegally- smuggled gasoline earning a profit of over VNĐ7 billion (over $265,890).

Defendant Hồ Phước Hậu, chairman of the Board of Members and Director of Hương Hà P Company, was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

The remaining 53 defendants were sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison, and fined an additional VNĐ30 to 100 million ($1,139-3,789) each.

Some defendants were released at the court because their prison sentences were equal to the period of their detention.

The defendants were involved in phase 2 of the case concerning the smuggling of nearly 200 million litres of gasoline from Singapore to Việt Nam for consumption.

In phase 2 of the case, many defendants were crew members identified as having assisted in transporting smuggled gasoline on four ships.

According to the indictment, from March 2020 to February 2021, the group led by Phan Thanh Hữu and Đào Ngọc Viễn used the ships named Pacific Ocean and Western Sea to carry out 48 shipments of smuggled gasoline, totalling over 198 million litres, worth nearly VNĐ2.6 trillion ($98 million).

Authorities confiscated 17 vessels, 22 tanker trucks, hundreds of billions of đồng, and many other valuable assets.

During the expanded investigation, the police of former Đồng Nai Province (now Đồng Nai City) issued a decision to initiate a criminal case to investigate the actions of individuals suspected of committing crimes who had not been prosecuted in phase 1 of the case.

Previously, in phase 1 of the case, 74 defendants were sentenced for the crime of smuggling and one for the crime of receiving bribes.

Among the defendants, Viễn and Hữu were sentenced to 15 years and 13 years and six months in prison, respectively, for the same crime of smuggling.

This case has been placed under the monitoring and direction of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption and Negative Phenomena, and has attracted significant public attention. VNS