CORRUPTION CRIMES IN VIET NAM AND THE ROLES OF THE
SUPREME PEOPLE’S PROCURACY OF VIET NAM IN DEALING WITHREQUESTS FOR MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE IN CRIMINAL
MATTERS RELATING TO CORRUPTION CASESNguyen Cam Tu * and Nguyen Hai Bang †I.

THE NECESSITY OF MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR DEALING WITH
CORRUPTION CASES IN VIET NAM

In recent years, corruption crimes have become a national problem and directly threatened
the financial security of the nation, casting doubt on the prestige and reliability of Viet Nam
among the international community. According to the statistics reported by the Ministry ofPublic Security of Viet Nam, corruption crimes mainly occurred in the fields of economics,politics, the judiciary, education and training, healthcare, personnel management, etc. In 2015,
265 corruption cases were detected and handled. Many extremely serious corruption cases havebeen prosecuted and adjudicated, such as: the case of Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu and her workers at
VietinBank who appropriated property by fraud, causing damage of 4 trillion VND (about 174billion USD); the corruption case of Construction Bank’s former President Pham Cong Danhcausing the damage of 18 trillion VND (about 783 billion USD); the corruption case of Ocean
Bank’s former President Ha Van Tham causing damage of 27 trillion VND (about 1,174 billion
USD), etc. The majority of large-scale corruption cases are foreign related ones, for instance: thecorrupt property is foreign currency, offenders have interactions with foreign partners, offenders
save their proceeds of corruption at foreign banks or use proceeds of corruption in business orinteractions abroad or in buying real estate in foreign countries. Corruption offenders often ask
their relatives or friends to help them register the proceeds of crimes in these persons’ names andmove the proceeds of crime to foreign countries for dispersal and erasing traces of crime. Aftercommitting corruption crimes, offenders do their utmost to flee for shelter in neighbouring
countries via border paths or flee to countries which do not have bilateral treaties on extradition
with Viet Nam in order to avoid being extradited back to Viet Nam and being prosecuted fortheir criminal liability. Others even flee to countries which do not impose the death penalty or do
not execute death penalty judgments so that they will not be sentenced to the death penalty ifthey are extradited back to Viet Nam.
It is predicted that corruption crimes in Viet Nam will trend towards transnational organizedcrime with collusion between domestic offenders and their foreign accomplices. There will be anincrease in the number of Vietnamese corruption fugitives to foreign countries. They conspire toobtain a huge number of properties by corruption domestically and disperse these proceeds ofcorruption to foreign countries. Once their criminal acts are detected by investigation agencies,*†LLM, Prosecutor Assistant, Supreme People’s Procuracy of Viet Nam.
LLM, Examiner, High People’s Court in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

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they will intermediately escape to foreign countries to avoid being caught. Some offenders evensend their children to study abroad to make preparations in advance. With huge proceeds ofcorruption at their disposal, corruption offenders lead enjoyable lives in foreign countries, which
are indeed their ideal shelters. This situation requires criminal justice authorities of each country
to further strengthen cooperation aiming at taking tougher measures on fighting against
corruption crimes, defeating completely the conspiracy of corruption offenders to flee abroad forshelter. Hence, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters is considered as one of the mostimportant channels for international cooperation in the criminal justice field, especially forsupporting each country in dealing with foreign-related criminal cases including foreign-related
corruption cases. It is mutual legal assistance in criminal matters that helps domestic
investigation agencies and prosecution services collect relevant information, materials andnecessary evidence in foreign countries for proving offences and deciding on whether or not toprosecute the accused. In fact, many cases have been suspended or even dismissed by the courts
because of the lack of executed requests for mutual legal assistance from foreign countries. Thus,
promotion of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters among criminal justice authorities ofevery country for fighting against corruption crimes in the context of globalization andinternational integration is completely indispensable.
II. THE ROLES OF THE SUPREME PEOPLE’S PROCURACY OF VIET NAM IN
DEALING WITH REQUESTS FOR MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE IN CRIMINAL
MATTERS RELATING TO CORRUPTION CASES
Pursuant to Paragraph 2, Article 493, Criminal Procedure Code 2015 of Viet Nam, theSupreme People’s Procuracy is the Central Authority of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam formutual legal assistance in criminal matters and other types of international cooperation incriminal proceedings in accordance with law. As the Central Authority of Viet Nam for mutual
legal assistance in criminal matters, the Supreme People’s Procuracy has the power, on behalf of
the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, to undertake the negotiation and conclusion of Treaties on
Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between Viet Nam and other countries, as well as
to make decisions on receiving and dealing with requests for mutual legal assistance between
Viet Nam and foreign countries, which covers: 1. Service of papers, dossiers and documentsrelated to criminal legal assistance; 2. Summoning of witnesses and experts; 3. Collection andsupply of evidence; 4. Penal liability examination; 5. Escorting prisoners for providing evidence;
6. Transfer of offenders for prosecuting criminal liability; 7. Information sharing; 8. Other
requests for criminal legal assistance.
Under the Law on Organization of the People’s Procuracies of Viet Nam, the Supreme
People’s Procuracy has the functions of executing public prosecution power and supervision overmutual legal assistance in criminal matters. Specifically, the Supreme People’s Procuracy isempowered to make final decisions on requesting the competent agencies of foreign countries tosummon witnesses and experts, to collect and provide relevant evidence, and to prosecuteoffenders who are appearing in the requested nation for his or her criminal liability. In addition,
the Supreme People’s Procuracy also has the power of deciding to transfer requests for mutual
legal assistance in criminal matters made by Central Authorities of requesting nations tocompetent investigation agencies of Viet Nam for initiating criminal proceedings andinvestigation. The Supreme People’s Procuracy supervises the execution of requests for mutual- 204 -legal assistance by competent investigation agencies, procuracies and courts. Once violations aredetected, the Supreme People’s Procuracy asks them to make sure that the information, materials
and evidence collected legally via the mutual legal assistance channel will be promptly sent to
the Central Authority of the requesting nations.
Before making decisions on sending the requests for mutual legal assistance to the Central
Authority of the requesting nations, the Supreme People’s Procuracy plays a core role inexamining the dossiers of request for mutual legal assistance made by investigation agencies inViet Nam to make sure that the requests are made in accordance with both the Law on Mutual
Legal Assistance of Viet Nam and the bilateral or multilateral treaties on Mutual Legal
Assistance to which Viet Nam and the requested nation are parties; the requests have to betranslated into the languages that are stipulated in the treaties or are acceptable by the requestednation. One of the most important points that needs to be overseen by the Supreme People’s
Procuracy is the offences mentioned in the requests for mutual legal assistance have to comply
with the dual criminality principle in order to avoid refusal to execute by the requested nations.
Fortunately, corruption is viewed as a crime under UNCAC and the penal codes of almost all ofcountries worldwide. This means the requests for mutual legal assistance relating to corruption
cases will meet the requirement of dual criminality and will be handled if they are made in thecorrect format.
In recent years, as the Central Authority of Viet Nam for mutual legal assistance in criminalmatters, the Supreme People’s Procuracy has made a positive contribution to the process ofdealing with foreign-related corruption cases in Viet Nam. Notably, in the case relating to the Ha
Noi urban railway project in 2015, six senior officials of Viet Nam Railway Corporation wereaccused of extorting a JTC contractor to give a bribe for creating favourable conditions for theimplementation of the urban railway project in Ha Noi. In the beginning stage of theinvestigation of this case, a group of prosecutors from Tokyo visited the Supreme People’sProcuracy and cooperated closely with the Department of International Cooperation and Mutual
Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. The two sides kept in regular contact during the process ofdealing with the case, especially in the process of summoning and interviewing witnesses andrelevant persons both in Japan and in Viet Nam to clarify the criminal acts of the defendants.
Eventually, all six defendants were sentenced to imprisonment for the offence of abusing theirpositions and powers while undertaking official missions, which is one of the offences stipulated
in the group of corruption and position-related crimes under the Penal Code of Viet Nam. The
most severe penalty, 13 years of imprisonment, was imposed on the ringleader, Pham Hai Bang,former Deputy Manager of the railway project PMU under Viet Nam Railway Corporation for
his receipt of the bribe.
In another case, Giang Kim Dat, former Head of the Business Division of Vinashin
Corporation, a State-Owned Corporation, and his accomplices embezzled more than 260 billion
VND (about 11.3 million USD) and then fled to Cambodia. The Supreme People’s Procuracy
requested Cambodia to assist in searching for, arresting and transferring Giang Kim Dat back to
Viet Nam. Meanwhile, the Supreme People’s Procuracy also requested the Singaporean side toassist in providing information and recovering the proceeds of crime. In 2017, the High Court inHa Noi sentenced Giang Kim Dat to the death penalty for committing the offence ofembezzlement.

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Viet Nam has witnessed the trend toward transnational corruption crimes. Thus, mutual legal
assistance in criminal matters is one of the most important steps in the process of investigation,prosecution and adjudication of foreign-related corruption cases. The evidence collected via
mutual legal assistance channels is acknowledged as a legitimate source of evidence inaccordance with the Criminal Procedure Code 2015. In foreign-related criminal cases, including
corruption cases, the cases may be suspended if the results of executing requests for mutual legal
assistance from foreign competent agencies have not been provided within the time limit ofinvestigation as stipulated clearly in Criminal Procedure Code. Therefore, the Supreme People’sProcuracy, as the Central Authority of Viet Nam for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters,
has to play a positive role in dealing with foreign-related corruption cases, to bring corruption
offenders to justice, and to contribute to the sustainable development of the nation.

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