On November 28, the National Assembly passed a Resolution on piloting the handling of evidence and assets during the investigation, prosecution and trial of a number of criminal cases.
This Resolution regulates the pilot handling of evidence and assets seized, temporarily detained, distrained, and frozen during the process of handling information about crimes, initiating, investigating, prosecuting, and trying criminal cases and cases under the supervision and direction of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, Wastefulness, and Negativity.
Evidence and assets subject to handling under the provisions of Clause 3, Article 106 of the Criminal Procedure Code are not within the scope of this resolution.
The Resolution also clearly stipulates five measures for handling evidence and assets, including: Returning money to the victim or depositing money in a bank pending processing; depositing a security deposit to cancel the seizure, temporary detention, attachment, or freezing of evidence and assets; buying, selling, transferring evidence and assets and handling proceeds from the sale and transfer; handing over evidence and assets to the legal owner or manager for management, exploitation, and use; temporarily suspending transactions, temporarily suspending registration, and transferring ownership and use rights of assets.
Regarding the measure of returning money to the victim or depositing money in the bank pending processing, the Resolution stipulates as follows:
a) In case the evidence or property is money that has been seized, temporarily detained, or frozen and the prosecution agency clearly identifies the owner, the victim, the amount of damage, and has a written request from the victim or their representative and a written request from the suspect, defendant, or another person who is the owner of the evidence or property, the prosecution agency shall decide to return the money to the victim in the order and proportion prescribed by the law on civil judgment enforcement.
The decision to return money to the victim is sent to the credit institution or the State Treasury that is managing the temporary account or is enforcing the account freezing order for implementation;
b) For the amount of money that has been seized or temporarily detained and is not subject to handling under the provisions of Point a of this Clause, if there is a written request from the owner, the prosecuting agency shall decide to deposit the money into the term deposit account of the prosecuting agency opened at a commercial bank in which the State holds more than 50% of the charter capital, pending handling.
For money in a frozen account that is not subject to handling under the provisions of Point a of this Clause, if there is a written request from the owner, the prosecuting agency shall decide to allow the owner of that account to convert it into a term deposit account and decide to freeze the deposit account pending handling.
Income arising in the process of handling evidence and assets according to the provisions of this Resolution shall be handled according to the judgment and decision of the Court.
This Resolution takes effect from January 1, 2025 and is implemented for 3 years, unless otherwise decided by the National Assembly.
