Former Vinashin chairman sentenced to 13 years in prison
Two defendants, former chairman of the Board of Members and general director of Vinashin, were sentenced to 13 and 7 years in prison by the Hanoi People's Court today.
After nearly three days of trial and deliberation, on the afternoon of June 12, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Su (former chairman of the Board of Members of Vinashin) to 13 years in prison, Truong Van Tuyen (former general director of Vinashin) to 7 years in prison, Pham Thanh Son (former deputy general director of Vinashin) to 6 years in prison and Tran Duc Chinh (former chief accountant of Vinashin) to 17 years in prison for the same crime.Abuse of position and power to appropriate property.
Defendants Son and Chinh were banned from holding public office for 3 years after completing their sentences. Considering that the defendants had good personal records and many achievements in their work; Chinh and Su confessed honestly, Tuyen and Son partially admitted, the court applied mitigating circumstances to sentence them below the penalty range.
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Defendant Nguyen Ngoc Su. |
In his final statement, Mr. Su expressed his regret for not carefully considering the decision to deposit money in Oceanbank. The defendant apologized to the Party, State, and Government for trusting him to be the chairman of Vinashin Group. "I have betrayed their trust," he said, and asked the panel of judges to consider reducing his sentence.
During more than two days of interrogation, the defendants’ testimonies showed that from 2010 to June 2014, Vinashin executed more than 2,300 term deposit contracts with Oceanbank with an amount of nearly VND104,000 billion and nearly USD182 million. The interest according to the contract was nearly VND1,100 billion and nearly USD30,000.
Defendant Tran Duc Chinh was assigned to receive and manage the above-mentioned extra interest (not accounted for) to spend and use for Vinashin's general work.
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Former Vinashin Chairman Truong Van Tuyen in his final words. |
Of the total amount received from Oceanbank, Mr. Su appropriated 8 billion VND and spent and used 385 million VND for personal use; Tuyen 3.5 billion VND; Son 1.2 billion VND; Chinh appropriated 10 billion VND and spent it. Chinh could not prove the remaining amount of more than 60 billion VND, so the court forced the defendants to be responsible for remedying the consequences.
The court decided to transfer the amount of money the defendants had recovered (Su 8.3 billion VND, Tuyen 3.5 billion, Son 1.2 billion...) to Oceanbank to deduct the civil compensation of former Oceanbank chairman Ha Van Tham.
