Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh: No one keeps money in a shoe cabinet.

The first-instance trial of Mr. Dinh La Thang, Trinh Xuan Thanh and accomplices at the Hanoi People's Court over the past three working days mentioned the embezzlement of 13 billion VND from the management board of the Vung Ang - Quang Trach power project, involving Mr. Thanh and 9 defendants.

Defendant Trinh Xuan Thanh at trial.

According to the case, in July 2011, Nguyen Anh Minh (Deputy General Director of the Petroleum Construction Corporation - PVC) was assigned to be in charge of the Vung Ang - Quang Trach Project Management Board. PVC Chairman Trinh Xuan Thanh and General Director Vu Duc Thuan assigned Mr. Minh to direct Luong Van Hoa (Director of the Project Management Board) to transfer money for him to use for holidays and Tet.

The money transfer was carried out by Luong Van Hoa through the receiving contact Bui Manh Hien. From July 2011 to February 2012, the defendants withdrew a total of 13 billion from the project seven times.

Responding to the interrogation of the People's Court on the morning of January 9 when Mr. Thanh was taken to the isolation room, defendant Hoa said: "Mr. Minh discussed the money transfer under the direction of Mr. Thanh and Mr. Thuan.... In a phone call, Mr. Minh said that "Mr. Thanh directed you to take care of Tet money for the general company". And according to Mr. Minh's request for "four dong", defendant Hoa took care of four billion dong. The money was given to driver Ke with the instruction to transfer it to the driver of 'boss Thanh'.

Invited to court, driver Ke testified that on January 13, 2012, he drove defendant Hoa to withdraw money at two banks. Hoa told driver Ke: "Please leave this for me in Toan's car, the boss's driver."

According to Mr. Ke, he gave Mr. Thanh's driver a bag containing four billion.

'We are close brothers, but we must be fair in court'

In response to the testimony of his subordinates, Mr. Thanh said that in mid-2011, Mr. Minh occasionally came to his office to ask, "Do you need money to celebrate Tet?"

"Every time the defendant answered: You are young, just came up, if I don't give you money, that's fine. So there is no way the defendant directed Minh to withdraw money using fake documents," Mr. Thanh stated.

Standing next to him for confrontation, defendant Minh maintained his statement and said that one time he went to Mr. Thanh's house for dinner, he saw him take a bag of money out of the cupboard and say "Hoa gave the money".

Mr. Thanh immediately assumed that the cabinet that defendant Minh mentioned was his family's shoe cabinet. "That cabinet is outside the door, and Mr. Minh knows that many people come and go in the defendant's house, leaving it there will be lost immediately, so no one would do that. Saying Hoa gave him money is even more impossible," Mr. Thanh argued.

The panel of judges announced the testimony of driver Mr. Thanh showing that he received a large black bag from driver Ke.

On January 10, during the third working day of the trial, the lawyers continued to ask questions to clarify this issue. Defendant Bui Manh Hien affirmed that although he did not receive official written instructions on creating fake contracts and withdrawing money from the Vung Ang project, he followed the "verbal orders" of Mr. Thanh and Thuan.

Defendant Hoa testified that he clearly heard Mr. Thanh say: "Just do as Minh directs."

Defendant Minh affirmed that although there was no official document, Mr. Thanh certainly directed him and others to withdraw money from the project fund. Hearing Minh say that, Mr. Thanh once again affirmed that he considered this defendant as his younger brother and asked: "Did you ever direct me to set up a foreign fund?"

Defendant Minh, although informed by the panel of judges that he had the right to refuse to answer, still answered. The defendant said that during the days in court, he had heard Mr. Thanh talk many times about the affection between the two brothers and the two families, but he said that since he had come to court, it was necessary to be clear and fair.

Defendant Minh asked the panel of judges to remind defendant Thanh not to talk too much about his love for him. "Although my relationship with Thanh and his family is deeper than with Thuan, I cannot take money from Thanh and give it to Thuan," Minh explained.

On the evening of January 10, while presenting his testimony and opening the indictment, Mr. Thanh said that although the other defendants blamed him, he "didn't see himself anywhere in those withdrawals. That is very unreasonable."

No embezzlement still overcomes consequences

Affirming that he "did not embezzle", defendant Thanh still asked to accept compensation as a leader. His family has paid two billion VND to compensate for the damage. Defendant Minh and his family have paid 3.6 billion VND to compensate for the consequences; Luong Van Hoa paid back nearly 2.5 billion, Bui Manh Hien paid 300 million...