Why 2 enterprises Truong Thinh and Hong Viet were prosecuted?

Four defendants involved in the case. Source: Document image

Specifically, through the work of state management in Customs area and applying many professional measures of customs enforcement, the General Department of Vietnam Customs (Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department) directly detected Truong Thinh and Hong Viet company committed acts of fabrication and using fake vouchers (announcement of the imported scrap shipment for inspection and clearance; proof of deposit) for importing illegally scrap from abroad to Vietnam through border gates at Danang City, Hai Phong City, HCM City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and An Giang province.

According to Clause 2, Article 10 of the Circular No. 41/2015/TT-BTNMT of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment dated 9/9/2015, about stipulating environmental protection in importing scrap as production raw materials, enterprises need to inform the imported scrap shipment for inspection and clearance; proof of deposit are mandatory documents. The enterprise must submit to the customs authorities when implementing the customs procedures, clearing the shipments of imported scrap.

After identifying the cases had signs of illegal transportation of goods across borders according to the provisions of Article 154 of the 1999 Penal Code (Article 189 of the Penal Code of 2015, amended and supplemented in 2017) and pursuant to Clause 5, Article 143 of the Criminal Procedure Code dated 28/8/2018, the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department issued the Decision No. 15/QD-DTCBL and Decision No. 16/QD -DTCBL to prosecute the cases of illegal transportation of goods across the border occurring with Truong Thinh company and Hong Viet company.

At the same time, the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department issued Decision No. 01/QD-DTCBL and No.02/QĐ-DTCBL to transfer the entire case dossiers to the investigation police agency (C03) - Ministry of Public Security to handle and investigate in accordance with their competence.

It is known that, after the General Department of Vietnam Customs (Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department) prosecuted the case, on the same day, the Police Investigation Agency (C03) - Ministry of Public Security issued a decision to prosecute accused No. 144/C03 -P15, Order of arrest of the accused for temporary detention No.42/C03-P15 for Nguyen Duc Truong - Director of Duc Dat Company Limited; Decision on prosecution of accused No. 145/C03-P15, Order of arrest of the accused for temporary detention No. 41 / C03-P15 for Nguyen Van Son - Director of Truong Thinh Company; Decision to prosecute accused No. 146/C03-P15, Order of arrest of the accused for temporary detention No.43/C03-P15 for Duong Van Phuong - staff member of Truong Thinh Company; Decision on prosecution of the accused No. 143/C03-P15, Order of arrest of the accused for temporary detention No. 40/C03-P15 for Duong Tuan Anh- Executive Manager of Hong Viet Company for the crime of “illegal transport goods and currency cross border" under the Article 189 of the Penal Code 2015; Order of search of the places of residence or workplaces of the above subjects. The above decisions and orders have been ratified by the People's Procuracy.

The case is currently under investigation. The investigating police agency of the Ministry of Public Security is concentrating its forces in coordinating with the General Department of Vietnam Customs (the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department) to thoroughly investigate the subjects, and for committing the breaches in order to be strictly handled under the provisions of law. At the same time, continuing to investigate and clarify the responsibilities of individuals involved in the handling of more than 10,000 backlogged containers at seaports for strict handling in accordance with the provisions of law.