Mr. Dinh La Thang's younger brother received 5 billion for brokering lunch.

On the morning of January 24, after hearing the announcement of the indictment in the case of embezzlement of assets at the Vietnam Oil and Gas Power Real Estate Joint Stock Company (PVP Land), former PVC Chairman Trinh Xuan Thanh and seven defendants all answered "no comments" to the accusations.

According to the indictment, dateOn March 27, 2010, the group of five founding shareholders of Trans-Pacific Services Joint Stock Company agreed to sign a deposit contract to transfer all 24 million shares owned in the Nam Dan Plaza high-end office and commercial center complex project on Pham Hung Street (Hanoi) to Le Hoa Binh (Chairman of the Board of Directors of 1/5 Construction and Service Joint Stock Company) at a price of VND 20,756.34/share, equivalent to VND 52 million/m2.

While four shareholders made the transfer at the above price, the remaining shareholder, who also owns the most shares (50.5%), PVPLand, only sold at 13,578 VND/share, equivalent to 34 million VND/m2. The total contract value is more than 191 billion VND, a decrease of 87 billion compared to the price in the deposit contract mentioned above.

Authorities determined that the low price transfer was intended to take the difference and divide it among the defendants.

Arrange a meal and get 5 billion thanks

According to the indictment, because PVPLand wanted to transfer shares, it had to get permission from the parent company, PVC, so Ms. Thai Kieu Huong (former deputy general director of Viet San Investment Joint Stock Company - one of the five units)founding shareholder of Trans-Pacific Service Joint Stock Company)met Dinh Manh Thang (younger brother of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group Dinh La Thang) to arrange a meeting with PVC Chairman Trinh Xuan Thanh. Ms. Huong knew that Mr. Thang's brother was someone who could influence Mr. Thanh.

At the end of March 2010, through Mr. Thang's connection, Ms. Huong and her foreign boss met Mr. Thanh at a restaurant on Xuan Dieu Street. Here, Ms. Huong mentioned that Mr. Thanh allowed PVPLand to transfer shares in the Trans-Pacific Company...

After this meeting, Mr. Thanhapproved the transfer plan at a price of 34 million VND/m2. The indictment said that, according to the defendants' statements, the difference of 18 million VND/m2 would be transferred to some people because the total price was still 52 million VND/m2 as agreed in the deposit contract datedMarch 27, 2010.

Immediately after that,To thank Mr. Thang, Ms. Huong directed to immediately give 5 billion VND.

At today's trial, Mr. Thang stated that he did not participate in the sale of shares, nor did he influence Mr. Thanh, but only arranged the lunch so that Ms. Huong had the opportunity to present to Mr. Thanh.

Mr. Thang denied his previous statement at the investigation agency that "Ms. Huong asked for his influence to...Thanh agrees to let PVP Land divest capital".Mr. Thang said that Ms. Huong put money in his car and a message "cthank you

Mr. Thang also admitted that Ms. Huong had asked him to transfer 14 billion VND to Mr. Thanh. Because Mr. Thanh told him to give it to his personal driver, Thang instructed him to put the money in a suitcase and give it to this person.

The chairman then announced the document stating that when Mr. Thanh opened the suitcase and saw the money, he called to ask, and Mr. Thang said "give the boss a little gift

PVPLand bosses blame each other

Defendant Dao Duy Phong (former Chairman of PVPLand Board of Directors) statedonly knew a small part of PVPLand's divestment and share transfer activities, so he did not participate and did not know about the above contract. However, he affirmed that all purchases and sales were done in accordance with the law.

Mr. Phong answered in a roundabout way without going straight to the question, causing the judge to have to remind him many times to speak briefly and not understand the court's question... In his subsequent testimony, Mr. Phong admitted that he had enjoyed...10 billion VND from the price difference when transferring.The money was transferred to the car by the driver, there was no direct delivery.

The court called Huynh Nguyen Quoc Duy to confront him and this defendant admitted to transferring 10 billion VND to Mr. Phong. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa (former chief accountant of 1/5 Construction and Service Joint Stock Company) stated that she saw Mr. Binh withdraw 10 billion VND from the bank and give it to Duy...

When defendant Nguyen Ngoc Sinh (former general director of PVPLand) stated that he knew about the deposit contract with the price52 million per square meter of land, the court asked for an explanation as to why the transfer was signed for only 34 million VND, Mr. Sinh explained that because the land use term was only 50 years, ""Actually, that price is high." According to Mr. Sinh, this price has been submitted to the Board of Directors of PVPLand.

Confronted with this statement, former Chairman of the Board of Directors Phong denied, saying "he never discussed with this subordinate about the price of 34 million per square meter"..