On the afternoon of August 18, former Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Ba Hoan began answering questions at the Hanoi People's Court. He and 8 subordinates at the Department of Overseas Labor Management are being tried for accepting bribes, totaling more than 30 billion VND, after causing difficulties, "drawing" processes and sub-licenses to force businesses to spend money.
Explaining this afternoon, Mr. Hoan said that he has been in charge of this Department since April 2021, "heard" about the situation of officials harassing businesses, but did not see any letters or denunciations sent to him during his work.
Meanwhile, the Procuracy is accusing Mr. Hoan of knowing clearly the harassment scenario of his subordinates but turning a blind eye to receive a salary of about 100 million VND for each file, equivalent to 25-40%.
"Get money but do it right"
During the process of carrying out procedures for workers to go to Korea to work in the shipbuilding industry (E7 visa), Mr. Hoan admitted that two businesses asked him to influence the Department to speed up the process and go through the procedures.
He did receive thank-you gifts from these two directors, but "in fact, all the documents were prepared in accordance with regulations."
Even for other types of documents, when Director Tong Hai Nam asked to create conditions to "do it quickly", he instructed them to do it right, "not fast". Later, when Nam shared the money, he still accepted it.
"People don't give money, the defendant thinks it's right and still has to deal with it, why does he still accept money? He didn't do anything to accept money," presiding judge Luu Ngoc Canh asked three times, Mr. Hoan replied "yes".
Mr. Hoan admitted that 3 times holding a total of 5.7 billion VND from Mr. Nam and the business was wrong, it was bribe money. But for the holidays, a total of 10 billion VND, he said it was just a gift. "Other leaders all receive friendly business gifts, that is a cultural tradition," he said.
The Procuracy alleges that this 10 billion VND is a "bribe", because he is the person who directs and runs the Department of Overseas Labor Management. But Mr. Hoan did not agree with this, saying that the accusation was "heavy".
He declared that he was only "in charge" and not "managing" this unit. Director Nam is the one in charge. The former deputy minister therefore asked the court to "reconsider" the bribe amount being charged.
However, he said that two days after being arrested, his family borrowed from everywhere to pay back 15.8 billion VND. In addition to the 999 million VND and several tens of thousands of dollars seized in his office, he thought he had overcome the excess and asked to receive the excess money back to repay the debt.
Twice "overheard" the harassment but did not intervene
Faced with accusations of making it difficult to ask for money, or receiving money to ignore mistakes and prioritize documents, Mr. Hoan affirmed that he had "followed the correct process and responsibility".
Specifically, when an enterprise submits an application, the Department of Overseas Labor Management directly verifies and only makes a list and sends it to the Ministry when the conditions are met. Receiving this list, Mr. Hoan said he checked it very carefully, then sent it back to the office to submit to the Minister.
He said the minister, according to the law, will have the authority to approve and sign licenses for qualified businesses. He, in the capacity of deputy minister, only signs on his behalf when authorized and agreed by the minister.
Regarding the "drawing" of the child license for the E7 visa, Mr. Hoan believes that the responsibility belongs to his subordinates, the director of the Nam Department, when he proactively asked for opinions to follow the "self-created" internal process.
"But Nam only asked for oral opinions, and then did not report any details about the content of the process, so the defendant did not understand," Mr. Hoan declared, saying that in 2024 he was very busy with the task of developing the new Social Insurance Law, so he "did not closely follow the law" and did not know about "this illegal process."
Admitting that this type of procedure causes more difficulties for companies sending people to export labor, Mr. Hoan believes that this comes from the fact that Korea is a "hot" market. Previously, there was a situation where 6 companies sent 794 people illegally, without registration, and were returned to foreign countries. Therefore, the Department must coordinate to resolve and request money to be returned to the workers.
"The Department's introduction of sub-licenses also aims to firmly grasp and control the number of workers brought over, in accordance with the quota granted by Korea," he said.
Tomorrow, the trial continues.
