Vietnam Fails to Issue Sentences for Corruption Fighter due to Lacking Indictment

By HK & KTT, March 24, 2017

A court in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Dak Nong was unable to issue a sentence for a 48-year-old whistleblower due to lack of evidence, state media reported last Friday.

The court spent two days reviewing testimonies and found that the indictment order had failed to include important information. Lack of evidence would harm the defendant’s rights to be protected, according to state media.

Tran Minh Loi, who is famous in Dak Nong and on social networks for fighting corruption and for being the owner of the “Diet giac noi xam” (Fighting against internal invaders) blog, stood accused of offering bribery worth VND 90 million ($ 3,956). If convicted, he faced between 13 and 20 years in prison.

Mr. Loi, who promoted the motto “Fighting corruption is not the responsibility of any single person,” was denounced a number of local officials and police officers involved in timber smuggling and making false accusations.

Speaking to the BBC on March 22 from Dak Nong, lawyer Pham Cong Ut, one of the six lawyers defending Mr. Loi at this hearing, said the trial drew in hundreds of local people, many of whom are grateful to Mr. Loi.

All six lawyers argued that Mr. Loi had been “unjustly charged” and that they would try to prove his innocence.

Mr. Ut added that state media coverage of this case only listed events as though he had been lawfully indicted.

Mr. Loi is famous for his efforts in combatting corruption and wrongdoings in his hometown but the media has been biased in covering news on the trial against him, his lawyer said.

Vietnam has the second highest rate of bribery among the 16 Asia Pacific countries with 65% of respondents reporting to have paid a bribe for public services, after India with 69%. Japan has the lowest rate, according to a report released by Transparency International early March.

In its recent report on Vietnam also released early March, the U.S. said “Corruption remained widespread throughout public-sector institutions, including police.”