Criminal Cases Involving Foreign Elements

In the face of the open-door policy and extensive international integration, foreigners and Vietnamese residing abroad come to Vietnam to do business, study, tourism, etc. more and more, creating opportunities for socio-economic development, but crimes related to foreign elements tend to increase, posing many challenges in crime prevention and control. For more detailed information about the provisions of Vietnamese law on crimes with foreign elements, please contact Apolo Lawyers Law Firm via email contact@apolo.com.vn or hotline 0903.419.479.

1. What is a crime with a foreign element?

Crimes with foreign elements are related to criminal cases with foreign elements. A criminal case involving foreign elements is a case that occurs in the Vietnamese territory and is carried out by a foreigner or a foreign commercial legal entity; or the crime is committed outside the territory of Vietnam, committed by a Vietnamese citizen or a Vietnamese commercial legal entity, or by a foreigner or a foreign commercial legal entity, which infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese citizens or the interests of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Criminal Cases Involving Foreign Elements

2. Features of criminal cases involving foreign elements

2.1. Characteristics of the offender

Offenders in cases involving foreign elements include foreigners, overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese.

• For offenders who are foreigners or Vietnamese residing abroad:

The offender is a foreigner who has been a citizen of many different countries in our country, in all continents of the world. Besides foreigners, there are also a number of Vietnamese who are currently residing abroad to Vietnam to commit crimes or collude with domestic subjects to conduct criminal activities. This is a high-risk and increasingly complicated crime of the Vietnamese community currently living abroad, with a tendency to invest in and produce, do business, travel or live in Vietnam. 

• The offenders are Vietnamese:

The offenders are Vietnamese who have acts of infringing upon the interests of foreign agencies, organizations and individuals currently living | study, work or do business in Vietnam. Crimes often occur in localities that are developed in terms of economy and tourism and where many foreign agencies and organizations are concentrated, border areas, seaports and airports.

2.2. Characteristics of victims in cases involving foreign elements

Victims of criminal cases involving foreign elements are mostly Vietnamese agencies, organizations and individuals, besides a few are agencies, organizations or individuals of other nationalities.

For victims who are Vietnamese, they are often people with low educational attainment, no contact with foreigners, no knowledge or lack of information about foreign-related issues as well as tricks of criminal activities due to property management.

For victims who are foreign agencies, organizations and individuals, most of them focus on crimes related to property infringement, human and health infringement. Foreign agencies, organizations and individuals are often subjective, have loopholes in asset management or civil transactions, and lack close coordination with the authorities or relevant agencies where they are headquartered or reside. 

2.3. Characteristics of criminal forms and tricks

Besides a few cases of crimes committed individually due to personal conflicts that infringe upon human life, health, dignity, and honor, most of the cases of crime are committed in the form of accomplices, many cases of organized crime. This is because foreigners who commit crimes in another country often have to have close association with other people, possibly of the same nationality or a person who holds the nationality of the host country. Some crimes require the cooperation of many people, are closely organized such as fraud, theft or robbery or drug crimes, human trafficking, gambling, prostitution.

When being discovered and examined for penal liability, many criminals showed signs of opposition to the competent authorities, made false statements, and acted in a way that obstructed the investigation process, such as: Failure to present papers or declaring lost to conceal their identity and identity.

Many subjects have taken advantage of the law on the right to use their mother tongue during the proceedings, deliberately using languages ​​that are not commonly used, even though they are completely capable of using common languages ​​such as English and French to create difficulties for agencies and procedure-conducting persons. 

To prepare to commit crimes, the subjects also often change their residence (inns, hotels) or deliberately do not declare their three-way residence to deal with the surveillance of law enforcement agencies. When detected, they often find ways to quickly exit and escape across the border to Cambodia, Laos, and China from there to other countries.

3. Competence to settle criminal cases involving foreign elements

In the criminal procedure law of Vietnam, the jurisdiction to treat the prosecution is determined according to the jurisdiction of the Court. According to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code 2015, the adjudication jurisdiction of the grassroots courts. The document includes: Jurisdiction by case, jurisdiction by territory and jurisdiction by subject.

The 2015 Criminal Procedure Code stipulates the jurisdiction (also the authority to investigate and prosecute) for cases involving foreign elements.

Accordingly, corresponding to each "foreign element of the case, jurisdiction. The trial is defined as follows: 

• Point b, Clause 2, Article 268 stipulates: Criminal cases involving overseas defendants, victims, litigants or assets related to overseas cases fall under the adjudication jurisdiction of the Courts of the province and the District 8 Military Zone Court;
• Clause 2, Article 269 stipulates: If the defendant commits a crime abroad, if the trial is held in Vietnam, the Court of the province where the defendant last residence is located in the country shall hear the trial. If the last place of residence of the accused cannot be determined, depending on the case, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall decide to assign the Court of Hanoi or the Court of Ho Chi Minh City or the Court of Da Nang to trial. If defendants commit crimes abroad, if they fall under the adjudicating jurisdiction of the military zone courts, the military zone-level military courts shall conduct trial under the decisions of the chief of the Central Military Court. 

Thus, according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code 2015, criminal cases involving foreign elements fall under the adjudication competence (also the investigation and prosecution competence) of the Courts of provinces and the Courts of military zones. The district and regional procedural agencies or other agencies assigned to conduct a number of procedural activities in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code when detecting a case involving foreign elements must transfer the case to the competent procedural agency of the province or military zone.

 Criminal Cases Involving Foreign Elements

The above are issues related to a crime with foreign elements. Apolo Lawyers Law Firm is proud to be the leading unit to support all issues for customers related to legal advice. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via email contact@apolo.com.vn or hotline 0903.419.479.

View more: Labor Disputes in Vietnam

View more: Top Reasons Why Businesses Should Opt for Commercial Arbitration to Settle Disputes

APOLO LAWYERS