Subordinates blame defendant Trinh Xuan Thanh

On the morning of January 14, in the defense, the defendant Hoa (former director of the Vung Ang Project Management Board, Quang Trach) said he voluntarily declared the amount of money suspected of embezzlement even before being questioned by the investigation agency."The defendant did not take it," said Mr. Hoa.

Mr. Hoa said that at yesterday's trial, defendant Trinh Xuan Thanh (former chairman of PVC's board of directors) intended to accuse him. Therefore, today, with the participation of both families, Mr. Hoa asked his former boss "not to accuse the defendant or anyone else when defending".

"During all this time, have you ever thought about why so many people had to stand in court?", Mr. Hoa said about Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh.

Two subordinates protected by PVN boss

Former Deputy General Director of PVN Nguyen Xuan Son speaks about responsibility in the casebelongs entirely to the project management board, not to the leadership of PVN Group. PVC's misuse of capital has never been reported to him."If I knew it was wrong, I would never have done it," said Mr. Son.

"The defendant thought that he worked with a spirit of enthusiasm and responsibility, not leaving today's work for tomorrow, and was enthusiastic about the goals not only of the Group but also of ensuring the country's fuel security. The defendant himself almost died at his desk due to a stroke while working. Many PVN officials also worked with the same spirit," Mr. Son stated.

Assuming that one mistake leads to another, leading to capital being misusedMr. Son said he was "not satisfied" with the way the case calculated damages because it applied "usury interest rates". According to him, if the interest rate was calculated, the damage would only be about 15 billion VND, not 119 billion VND as the appraisal concluded. He suggested a reasonable calculation that was true to the nature of the problem.

Mr. Son asked the court to consider the responsibility of Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Quy (former Vice Chairman of PVC Board of Directors) because he only followed his instructions. "It is heartbreaking for a gentle person who mainly works for the organization to be in trouble with the law," said Mr. Son..

* Defendant Son "asked" for a reduced sentence for defendant Quy

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Son asked for his colleague

Like former PVN deputy general director, former PVN chief accountant Ninh Van Quynh, in his self-defense, spent time requesting to consider and reduce the sentence to the lowest level for Mr. Le Dinh Mau (former deputy head of PVN's accounting and auditing department). "The times of providing money, Mr. Mau only did it under the defendant's authorization, like "taking it out of the warehouse" but Mr. Mau did not know."

Mr. Quynh also stated that his alleged violations in this case were due to "following instructions from superiors".Mr. Quynh also did not agree with the proposal to return the case file for further investigation as his lawyer had previously stated.

Defendant Pham Tien Dat (former chief accountant of PVC) burst into tears when it was his turn to speak, unable to speak. After a few sentences of self-defense, the defendant asked the court to consider the responsibility of defendant Quy because he did not know about finance and accounting.

PVN bosses do not admit they did anything wrong.

* Former Deputy General Director of PVN Nguyen Quoc Khanh defends himself

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh admitted to being sincere.

Former PVN Deputy General Director Nguyen Quoc Khanh defended himself, saying that during the investigation, the defendant was very honest and confessed; voluntarily handed over hundreds of pages of documents to help the investigation agency quickly conclude the case. He honestly accepted responsibility even though the violations were caused by his subordinates, and paid 2 billion VND "to clear his conscience".

"This is a lesson for others to always follow the law when doing their jobs. The defendant hopes that the panel of judges will consider and give him leniency and generosity to help him have a chance to start his life over," said Mr. Khanh.

"Please give the court 15 minutes," said former PVN general director Phung Dinh Thuc, who served as general director for two years (July 2009-September 2011), right at the time of implementing the Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant project, and he worked with the principles of openness and transparency.

Mr. Thuc explained that he did not direct PVC and PVPower to sign contract 33, so he did not "intentionally violate" as the prosecutor alleged. The signing of contract 33 by the two subsidiaries was in accordance with the resolution of the Board of Directors, in accordance with the law. Due to the large volume of work, in 2011 there were over 48,000 documents, the Board of Directors concluded many contents but "certainly no one said that contract 33 was not legally valid". If so, he would direct an immediate review.

During this period, PVPower and PVN signed the investor change, and he directed Deputy General Director Nguyen Quoc Khanh to sign. After that, the deputy general directors continued to implement. "Therefore, the defendant did not intentionally violate the law by directing PVC and PVPower to sign contract 33," he stated, only admitting that he had not been careful.

Regarding the advance payment of capital to the PVC general contractor in four times with the amount of 6.6 million USD and 1,300 billion VND, Mr. Thuc said that new evidence showed that he did not sign the capital allocation decision. Of these four times, he only wrote a note once to resolve the matter according to the contract's regulations. "Thus, the defendant did not direct the capital allocation, but only wrote a note once but it was not implemented according to the instructions. The prosecutor's accusation that the defendant directed the capital allocation and advance payment against the regulations is baseless," the former PVC general director defended himself.

Mr. Thuc said he always works impartially, objectively, without personal gain, without favoring anyone. In this case, he did not discuss with his superiors, did not direct his subordinates. When he learned of any violations, he directed them to be corrected immediately. In 2011, knowing that there was a report that had been signed to terminate contract 33; knowing that the money had been misused, he also directed the consequences to be remedied and the money to be recovered.

"At the investigation agency, the defendant was always assessed as sincere, but when he presented new evidence in court, the prosecutor assessed him as lacking sincerity," he said.

Mr. Thuc admitted that he led PVN to develop well, increase profits, contribute more than 60,000 billion VND to the budget each year, and protect national sovereignty at sea. He has made outstanding contributions to scientific works, and has been awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize for Science and Technology twice.

"After nearly 40 years of hard work, carefulness, and responsibility, the defendant always kept in mind that he did the right thing. Now being proposed a 13-year prison sentence is too harsh. The defendant requests a comprehensive review, clarification of the nature of the case, individualization of behavior and responsibility, and consideration of reason and reason," the former general director of PVN stated, adding that more than 16,000 oil and gas workers are following this case.

The panel of judges will not be in session this afternoon. Tomorrow, the court will continue its 8th working day in a series of 13 days.