Forensic director falsifies reports to help people parole prison sentences

Pham Ngoc Phuong, 54, was in the dock on Tuesday at the Quang Ngai People’s Court on bribery charges, while Nguyen Ba Nhat, a former judge, and Do Van Thuong were charged with bribery brokering.

Ha Tran Vu, Nguyen Thanh Tin and Mai Van Hoc were accused of bribery.

In 2016, Vu was sentenced to two years in prison for intentionally causing bodily harm to another person and asked Nhat for help to suspend the sentence.

Nhat said he would find someone to falsely prove that Vu was seriously ill at the time of the attack.

Nhat took VND20 million (US$786) from Vu and persuaded Phuong to falsify forensic reports saying that Vu was suffering from “chronic tuberculosis” for VND10 million. Nhat then pocketed the other 10 million VND.

Vu submitted the false forensic report to the Quang Ngai People’s Court to request a suspension of sentence. However, the court found that Vu’s conditions did not meet the requirements for a stay and therefore requested reconsideration.

Phuong revised the report to say that Vu suffered from “chronic tuberculosis with multidrug resistance, which requires a long period of treatment.” Vu was subsequently approved to have his sentence extended by one year. When the ban period expired, Vu asked Nhat to forge papers again for VND20 million. In total, papers were forged three times (2017-2019).

On February 21, 2020, the Quang Ngai Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed the prison sentence imposed on Vu by the Quang Ngai People’s Court on the grounds that the Quang Ngai Forensic Center did not have the authority to carry out medical assessment.

Pham Ngoc Tien also had to serve a two-year prison sentence for theft. At the time of the sentencing, Tien was the family’s sole breadwinner, so the Tu Nghia District People’s Court suspended his prison sentence for one year. When the deadline expired, Tien contacted Nhat a total of three times and asked him for help in suspending the sentence. For Tien, Phuong falsified forensic reports stating that Tien had severe kidney failure for VND13 million.

On April 8, 2022, Tien began serving his sentence and was released early on August 2, 2023.

In Tin’s case, he had to serve a nine-month prison sentence for intentional destruction of property in 2022, so he went to Thuong to ask Phuong to falsify forensic reports.

Phuong then brought a relative with severe kidney failure to be examined, but said his name was Nguyen Thanh Tin, which helped Tin get his prison sentence suspended. For the deed, Phuong received VND20 million from Tin and Thuong received VND4 million.

From 2016 to 2022, Phuong had repeatedly received bribes totaling VND97 million through Nhat and Thuong to falsify forensic reports and help people serve their prison sentences.

A verdict is expected on Thursday.