Death sentence for former Director of VDB in Dak Lak-Dak Nong region

On September 25 and 26, in Gia Nghia town, the Supreme People's Court in Da Nang held an appeal trial of Vu Viet Hung, former Director of the Vietnam Development Bank in Dak Lak - Dak Nong region (VDB in Dak Lak - Dak Nong region) and his accomplices for the crimes of receiving bribes, giving bribes, violating regulations on lending in credit activities, and fraudulent appropriation of property.

Defendant Vu Viet Hung and accomplices at the appeal hearing, September 25.

The total amount of money that Vu Viet Hung and his accomplices embezzled was more than 1,000 billion VND at VDB in Dak Lak-Dak Nong area, Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank - Hanoi Branch and Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) - Ho Chi Minh City Transaction Office.

This is one of the 10 "major corruption cases" that the Central Internal Affairs Committee has directed to be tried and is the biggest corruption case that has ever occurred in Dak Nong province, attracting special attention from public opinion in the Central Highlands provinces as well as the whole country.

The presiding judge of the appeal trial was Judge Tran Minh Tuan of the Supreme People's Court in Da Nang; Mr. Dinh Ngoc Kinh, representative of the Supreme People's Procuracy in Da Nang, held the right to prosecute at the trial; in addition, there were 13 lawyers participating in defending and protecting the rights of the defendants.

According to the indictment, from 2008 to 2010, Vu Viet Hung signed and approved in violation of regulations, lending nearly 2,000 billion VND to a number of businesses at VDB in the Dak Lak-Dak Nong region, allowing these businesses to embezzle more than 357 billion VND. In return, Hung was given a BMW-X6 car worth more than 2 billion VND by the business. In addition, Hung also signed forged documents on outstanding debts at VDB in the Dak Lak-Dak Nong region, in order to help fraudulent businesses embezzle 580 billion VND from Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank - Hanoi Branch and OCB - Ho Chi Minh City Transaction Office.

Previously, in the first instance trial from March 11 to 13, 2014, the People's Court of Dak Nong province sentenced Vu Viet Hung to life in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property", 20 years in prison for "Violating regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions", and death for "Receiving bribes", with a total sentence of death.

Hung's accomplices, including Cao Bach Mai, former Director of Minh Nhat Company Limited and Nguyen Thi Van, Chairwoman of Song Cau Cooperative, were both sentenced to life imprisonment; Nguyen Thi Kim Loan, Director of Phat Long Company Limited, 20 years in prison; Dang Thi Ngan, Director of Thuy Ngan Company Limited, 20 years in prison; Nguyen Van Khanh, residing in Go Vap District (Ho Chi Minh City), 12 years in prison; Truong Dinh Hai, former Director of Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank - Hanoi Branch, 10 years in prison; Ta Thi Xuan Y, former Deputy Head of Customer Relations Department of OCB - Ho Chi Minh City Transaction Office, eight years in prison; Vo Tien Dat, former Director of OCB - Ho Chi Minh City Transaction Office, five years in prison; Lam Huu Hanh, former Deputy General Director of OCB, five years in prison; Tran Xuan Loc, former Head of the Export Credit Department of VDB in the Dak Lak-Dak Nong region, was sentenced to five years in prison and Nguyen Thi Hong Lien, a credit organization officer of VDB in the Dak Lak-Dak Nong region, was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended.

After the court of first instance announced the verdict, five defendants including Mai, Loan, Khanh, Dat and Lien accepted the sentence imposed by the Trial Council, the remaining eight defendants filed an appeal.

At the appeals court, the defendants could not present any new details to justify their crimes. Defendant Vu Viet Hung insisted on his innocence, claiming that he only violated the responsibility of supervising and managing the bank's loans, so he was deceived by the businesses... The BWM-X6 car was only borrowed from Cao Bach Mai and did not receive a bribe; he did not admit to assisting the other defendants in committing the crime of fraud and property appropriation and claimed that he had acted in accordance with the bank's regulations. However, defendant Hung asked the Trial Council to reduce his sentence for "violating regulations on lending in credit activities causing serious consequences" and asked to reject the order to confiscate five houses in his name that the court of first instance determined were acquired from crimes, because these were houses purchased by the defendant and his wife from legitimate and legal sources of income.

Defendant Tran Thi Xuan said that because she was "forced to confess", she had to confess to giving bribes to contribute money to buy a car for Hung. At the same time, she did not intend to defraud, but because OCB was greedy for high interest rates, they lent her a large amount of money and the loan procedures were simple.

The defendants Lam Huu Hanh, Ta Thi Xuan Y, Nguyen Thi Van, Dang Thi Ngan, Tran Xuan Loc, and Truong Dinh Hai pleaded guilty and asked for a reduced sentence.

During the debate, the lawyers tried to present details to defend and reduce the sentences for the defendants...

However, based on the public questioning at the trial and the documents and evidence collected, the Trial Panel believes that the defendants' appeal as well as the defense of the lawyers are unfounded.

At the end of the trial, the Trial Council sentenced Vu Viet Hung to life in prison for “Fraudulent appropriation of property”, 20 years in prison for “Violating regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions”, and death for “Receiving bribes”, with a total sentence of death.

Hung's accomplices include: Nguyen Thi Van, Head of Song Cau Cooperative, life imprisonment; Dang Thi Ngan, Director of Thuy Ngan Company Limited, 20 years in prison for fraud and two years in prison for tax evasion, total sentence of 22 years in prison; Truong Dinh Hai, former Director of Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank - Hanoi Branch, 10 years in prison; Ta Thi Xuan Y, former Deputy Head of Customer Relations Department of OCB - Ho Chi Minh City Transaction Office, eight years in prison; Lam Huu Hanh, former Deputy General Director of OCB, five years in prison; Tran Xuan Loc, former Head of Export Credit Department of VDB in Dak Lak - Dak Nong region, five years in prison.

The trial panel also fined Vu Viet Hung 10 billion VND to the State budget and confiscated five houses and land under Vu Viet Hung's name in Buon Ma Thuot City, Dak Lak Province, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province and Ho Chi Minh City.

The trial panel also rejected the request of the OCB representative to return more than VND 511 billion from VDB to OCB due to the defendants' fraud to pay off debt because this is evidence of the case.

Within 15 days after the court announces the verdict, Vu Viet Hung has the right to petition the President to reduce his sentence.

According toNDĐT