Details revealed about the "special" trial of Dinh La Thang and his accomplices.

Mr. Dinh La Thang was prosecuted for intentionally violating state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences, with a penalty range of 10 to 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, Mr. Thang's accomplice, Trinh Xuan Thanh, in addition to the aforementioned crime, was also prosecuted for embezzlement, with a penalty range of 20 years in prison, life imprisonment, or the death penalty.

The courtroom where the trial will take place on January 8th.

The court clerk's seat.

The trial panel consists of five members: presiding judge Nguyen Ngoc Huan, judge Truong Viet Toan (Deputy Chief Judge of the Criminal Court), and three people's assessors. In addition, the Hanoi Court also appointed one alternate judge and two alternate people's assessors.

Notably, the trial involved three prosecutors exercising the power of prosecution and supervising the trial proceedings: Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Hanoi People's Procuracy Dao Thinh Cuong and two senior prosecutors, Nguyen Minh Dong and Nguyen Manh Thuong. The Hanoi People's Procuracy also assigned two alternate prosecutors to participate in the trial.

The trial is expected to have more than 40 lawyers participating. Among them, Mr. Dinh La Thang has hired three lawyers: Phan Trung Hoai, Nguyen Huy Thiep, and Dao Huu Dang.

Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh hired nine lawyers to defend him; however, by the afternoon of January 5th, two lawyers from Vien An Law Firm had notified the Hanoi court that they were terminating their defense and protection of Mr. Thanh's legal rights and interests in this case. The lawyers stated that the reason for withdrawing was insufficient time to gather and study the case files and documents, making it impossible for them to provide the best possible defense for Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh, and Mr. Thanh agreed.

The case being brought to trial involves two civil plaintiffs (victims): PVN and PVC. The court plans to summon seven people with related rights and obligations, more than 31 witnesses, and six experts.

The defendants' seating arrangement.

Notably, the trial will apply the new regulations on courtroom layout according to Circular 01 of the Supreme People's Court (effective from January 1, 2018). Accordingly, lawyers will be seated on the same level as the representative of the Procuracy. Defendants will have separate seats, below their defense lawyers and the representative of the Procuracy. Under the new regulations, the courtroom will no longer have a dock; when answering questions, defendants will stand in front of a witness stand or table.

In another notable development, on January 5th, Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh's family proactively went to the Hanoi City Enforcement Department to voluntarily pay two billion VND to mitigate the consequences of their actions.

In addition, the families of two other defendants in the case, Nguyen Quoc Khanh (former Deputy General Director of PVN) and Nguyen Anh Minh (former Deputy General Director of PVC), also paid 2 billion VND and 1.3 billion VND respectively. The total amount proactively paid by the families of the three defendants to the Hanoi City Enforcement Department is 5.3 billion VND.

In this case, Mr. Dinh La Thang and 13 accomplices are accused of causing losses to PVN totaling nearly 120 billion VND. Trinh Xuan Thanh and 9 other defendants are accused of misappropriating over 13 billion VND that PVC was responsible for managing, of which Trinh Xuan Thanh benefited from 4 billion VND and is jointly liable for 1.5 billion VND that he used jointly with 3 other defendants.

This trial attracted significant public attention, as it marked the first time a former Politburo member had to appear in court. A large number of reporters registered to attend the trial; however, each newspaper was only granted one press pass (for one reporter) to cover the event.

The defendants in the case:

The group of defendants committed the crime of intentionally acting against the law:

1.Dinh La Thang(Former Chairman of the Board of Members of PVN)

2.Trinh Xuan Thanh(Former Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Vietnam Petroleum Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC).

3.Phung Dinh Thuc(Former CEO of PVN).

4.Nguyen Quoc Khanh(Former Deputy General Director of PVN).

5.Nguyen Xuan Son(Former Deputy General Director of PVN)

6.Vu Duc Thuan(Former CEO of PVC).

7.Ninh Van Quynh(Former Chief Accountant and Head of the Finance, Accounting and Auditing Department of PVN).

8.Le Dinh Mau(Former Deputy Head of the Accounting and Auditing Department of PVN)

9.Vu Hong Chuong(Former Head of the Thai Binh 2 Oil and Gas Power Project Management Board).

10.Tran Van Nguyen(Former Chief Accountant of the Thai Binh 2 Oil and Gas Power Project Management Board).

11.Nguyen Ngoc Quy(Former Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of PVC).

12.Nguyen Manh Tien(Former Deputy General Director of PVC).

13.Pham Tien Dat(Former Chief Accountant of PVC).

14.Truong Quoc Dung(Former Deputy General Director of PVC).

The group of defendants were charged with embezzlement.

15.Nguyen Anh Minh(Former Deputy General Director of PVC).

16.Bui Manh Hien(Former Chief of Staff of PVC).

17.Luong Van Hoa(Former Director of the Vung Ang - Quang Trach Project Management Board under Vietnam Petroleum Construction Corporation (PVC)).

18.Nguyen Thanh Quynh(Technical Director, Central Vietnam Corporation - Joint Stock Company (Da Nang)).

19.Le Thi Anh Hoa(Director of Quynh Hoa One-Member Limited Liability Company)

Husband: Nguyen Thanh Quynh (also a defendant in the case).

20.Nguyen Duc Hung(Former Head of Finance and Accounting Department, Vung Ang - Quang Trach Management Board)

21.Le Xuan Khanh(Former Head of Economic Planning Department, Vung Ang - Quang Trach Project Management Board)

22.Nguyen Ly Hai(Former Head of Technical Department, Vung Ang - Quang Trach Project Management Board).

The two defendantsTrinh Xuan Thanh, Vu Duc ThuanHe was prosecuted on both charges.