The former Deputy Director of Hai Phong City's Police Department has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for helping his brother flee the country.— VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tan

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The former Deputy Director of Hai Phong City's Police Department has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for helping his brother flee the country.

Duong Tu Trong was sentenced yesterday by the Ha Noi People's Court.

Trong and six accomplices were charged with helping Duong Chi Dung, the defendant's brother and disgraced ex-chairman of State-owned shipping corporation Vinalines, flee Viet Nam in May 2012.

Dung fled to Cambodia to escape from police who sought to arrest him for his mismanagement of Vinalines. He was later captured by Cambodian police and extradited to be tried in Viet Nam.

According to the indictment, after receiving a tip that his brother would be arrested and prosecuted, Trong conspired with his accomplices to arrange for Dung to escape through the Moc Bai border gate in southern Tay Ninh Province on May 23, 2012.

Each of Trong's associates also received jail sentences of varying severity. Vu Tien Son, the ex-Deputy Head of the Social Crime Investigation Police Section of Hai Phong Police Department, received 13 years in prison. Hoang Van Thang, a former officer of the Environmental Crime Investigation Police Section of Hai Phong Police Department, received 5 years. Nguyen Trong Anh, Son's former subordinate, received 6 years in prison. Dong Xuan Phong, a former official at Hai Phong City Customs Department, received 7 years. Tran Van Dung, 45, aka Dung " Bac Kan ", a resident in Hai Phong's Hong Bang district, received 8 years, and Pham Minh Tuan, former Director of Bach Dang Enterprise in Hai Phong city, received 5 years in jail.

After the case was heard, the council of judges found that Trong had created the plan for Dung to flee, directly compromising the State management of immigration, blocking the investigation into the Vinalines case and negatively affecting public trust in law enforcement agencies.

Dung - who was later sentenced to death at a trial in December last year after being found guilty of embezzlement and intentionally violating State regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences - appeared in court as a witness at his brother's trial. There, he admitted that he received information from a police official that he was to be arrested.

After finding Trong and his accomplices guilty, the judges decided to launch a criminal case involving intentionally leaking State secrets under Article 263 of the Penal Code. The Ha Noi People Procuracy has been entrusted to deal with this investigation, which will take place in the near future. — VNS