Ho Chi Minh City Police, Lawyers Prosecuted for Illegally Issuing Judicial Record Certificates

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Procuracy has completed its investigation and prosecuted former judicial official Hoang Thi Huong Lan, former head of the Judicial Records Department at the city's Department of Justice, along with 15 other individuals, for a series of violations in issuing judicial record certificates at the Department. Among those prosecuted, Lan, along with Tran Vo Tan Khoa (former civil servant in the Legal Document Department), Le Vu Linh (former deputy police chief), and Dang Minh Tong (former local police officer) of Ward 1 Police, District 5 (old), are accused of accepting bribes. Related to the case, Nguyen Van Binh (Director of HPN Trading and Consulting Services Co., Ltd.), his wife Tran To Oanh, and 10 other defendants (including company directors, lawyers, notary office staff, and a drink vendor) are accused of bribery or brokering bribes. Ward Police Facilitate Residency for Foreigners The Judicial Records Department (under the Department of Justice of Ho Chi Minh City) is responsible for receiving, processing applications, and issuing judicial record certificates. According to regulations, foreigners applying for a Type 1 judicial record certificate must submit their application in person or provide a valid power of attorney and be residing in the locality. According to the indictment, the defendants exploited the demand for expedited judicial record certificates from many individuals and organizations, and leveraged their connections with authorized personnel to process a large volume of applications quickly and in violation of regulations for profit. HPN Company provides legal consulting services, handles procedures for issuing judicial record certificates, and confirms residency for foreigners. It is alleged that for cases where foreigners lacked actual residence or temporary residence, Binh and Oanh agreed to process their applications by obtaining forged temporary residence confirmations and then submitting these for certificate issuance. Clients did not need to appear in person at the Department of Justice or provide a power of attorney. Each application was charged between VND 2.5 million and VND 3.1 million. Through his acquaintance with Nguyen Dinh Tung, an official from the Anti-Crime Department of Ward 1 Police (old District 5, Ho Chi Minh City), Binh, starting in April 2024, asked Tung to create forged "Customer Temporary Residence Registration Information" forms for a fee of VND 700,000 per application. To legitimize the residency requirements for foreigners, Tung colluded with Dang Minh Tong, agreeing to pay VND 300,000-400,000 per case. Tong then used his professional account to input forged residency information for 237 foreigners across 47 addresses within the ward, independently created temporary residence confirmation forms, and submitted them for approval and stamping by his superior, Le Vu Linh. The indictment states that Binh paid VND 165.9 million to legitimize temporary residence records illegally. Tung profited VND 80.7 million, Tong VND 77.6 million, and Linh VND 45.1 million. Lawyers and Businesses Collude with Department of Justice Officials for 'VIP' Cases With the temporary residence confirmations, Binh continued to utilize personal connections to ask Tran Vo Tan Khoa, a staff member at the one-stop service department of the Judicial Records Department, to process applications for a fee of VND 500,000 per application (including the official fee). Investigation results indicate that at the one-stop service department of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Justice, Tran Vo Tan Khoa colluded with various contacts to receive thousands of applications from absent individuals, applications with incorrect information, or "VIP" applications that bypassed the usual queueing and number-drawing system. For 2,465 applications processed, Khoa profited over VND 481 million. Similarly, Nguyen Van Khai, Director of Viet Tin Company, received requests from numerous clients wanting to obtain judicial record certificates quickly, without needing to be present or provide power of attorney. He charged between VND 2 million and VND 4.5 million per application. Khai then, through an intermediary, forwarded these applications to Hoang Thi Huong Lan, then head of the Judicial Records Department (Department of Justice of Ho Chi Minh City), requesting expedited processing. Lan agreed to process them for VND 1.2 million per case, including the official fee. Additionally, authorities identified lawyer Tran Trong The and Duong Tuyet Linh, a drink vendor outside the Department of Justice of Ho Chi Minh City, as individuals who facilitated obtaining judicial record certificates earlier than scheduled, without needing to queue or submit applications personally. After receiving the applications, Linh forwarded them to Lan for processing. Through this method, from 2018 to early 2025, Lan received 951 applications through various channels and profited over VND 2.2 billion. The Procuracy assessed that the defendants' actions infringed upon the proper functioning and credibility of agencies and units, and disrupted state administrative order, thus requiring severe punishment. Hai Duyen