How will Mr. Dinh La Thang compensate 630 billion VND?

Mr. Dinh La Thang (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Oil and Gas Group) received two first-instance verdicts just two months apart. In the second verdict (afternoon of March 29), Mr. Thang wasThe Hanoi People's Court sentenced him to 18 years in prison for intentionally violating state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences (Article 165 of the 1999 Penal Code). In addition, he was ordered to compensate PVN for 600 billion VND in damages.

The Hanoi Court concluded that Mr. Thang signed an agreement to contribute 800 billion VND of PVN to Oceanbank in late 2008 without the approval of the Board of Directors. From the end of this year to mid-2011, he directed his subordinates to contribute capital three times without the Prime Minister's approval, in violation of the law. As a result, PVN lost 800 billion VND when Oceanbank's leaders committed a series of violations.

Previously, at the trial held in January, Mr. Thang, Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of PVC) and 20 others were tried by the Hanoi People's Court for two crimes: Intentionally violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences and Embezzlement of property (Article 278 of the 1999 Penal Code).

Mr. Thang was convicted of illegally appointing contractors and providing advance payments to the Vietnam Oil and Gas Construction Corporation (PVC) in the construction of the Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant Project. Mr. Thang's direction was said to have created conditions for Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh and his subordinates to misuse more than 1,000 billion VND of the state, specifically PVN, causing a loss of 119 billion VND. In this case, Mr. Thang was sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to pay 30 billion VND in compensation.

After two trials, the total amount of compensation Mr. Thang had to pay was 630 billion VND.

Why has Mr. Dinh La Thang's assets not been seized yet?

Although he was ordered to pay compensation in the amount mentioned above, the published documents of the two cases do not show that Mr. Dinh La Thang had his assets seized.

In the case that occurred at PVN and PVC during the implementation of the Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant Project, the investigation conclusion as well as the indictment showed that during the investigation process, the investigation agency seized the assets of many defendants. Typically, the assets including real estate, cars, bank accounts, and securities of Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh and his wife and children. Many defendants who are bosses at PVC also paid or had tens of billions of dong temporarily seized.

In the second case causing a loss of 800 billion VND to PVN, the indictment also stated that during the investigation, former PVN chief accountant Ninh Van Quynh was confiscated by the investigation agency with more than 20 billion VND. This amount of money was the result of seizing many assets such as savings books, real estate, securities, foreign currency, cash, bank accounts, etc.

According to a legal expert, the current law only stipulates that the prosecution agency "has the right" to seize the defendant's assets, but does not require it to "have the obligation" to do so. The seizure is intended to ensure that the damage caused by the defendant is remedied and is often carried out by the prosecution agency when it determines that there has been an act of property appropriation. Therefore, according to this expert, "the choice of whose assets to seize depends on the assessment of the prosecution agency."

On the other hand, the seizure of assets (if any) is usually carried out during the investigation process. "Otherwise, even if the first instance judgment orders the offender to pay a large amount of compensation, the seizure will not be carried out. Wait until the final judgment comes into effect, moving to the execution stage, then the authorities can seize the assets," he said.

Lawyer: Difficult to recover 630 billion VND

Mr. Thang appealed the verdict related to violations at the Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant Project and is waiting for the appeal hearing. With the second case related to the loss of 800 billion VND of PVN's capital, Mr. Thang now has more than 10 days to decide whether to appeal or not (according to the law, he has the right to appeal within 15 days from the date of the court's verdict).

According to a lawyer, assuming an appeal hearing takes place, one of the grounds for the High People's Court to consider reducing Mr. Thang's sentence is to remedy the damage.The law stipulates this, but it does not specify what proportion of compensation compared to the mandatory part of the first instance judgment will result in the corresponding reduction in sentence. Therefore, if Mr. Thang proactively compensates before the appeal hearing, the assessment of the level of damage to consider whether to reduce the sentence or not will depend on the assessment of the panel of judges.

According to many lawyers, in the event that both judgments maintain the same penalty and compensation level as the first instance judgment, theThe decision to have Mr. Thang compensate 630 billion VND demonstrates the strictness of the law in fighting and preventing crime. However, the feasibility of recovering this amount of money, many lawyers assess, will be "extremely difficult", even "unimaginable".

According to the lawyer's analysis, the failure to seize Mr. Thang's assets during the investigation may cause difficulties in enforcing the judgment. If the convicted person does not voluntarily compensate, the responsibility for verifying and seizing the assets later belongs to the enforcement agency.

Meanwhile, an enforcement officer with many years of experience said that when enforcing the civil part of major criminal cases, recovering compensation money is "innumerable difficulties". With assets that were not previously seized, the job is even more difficult.

Figures from the General Department of Civil Judgment Enforcement show that the appeal judgment issued on August 30, 2012 declaredFormer Chairman of Vinashin Group Pham Thanh Binh and 8 accomplices must pay compensation of more than 1,100 billion VND, Mr. Binh alone must execute a judgment of more than 500 billion VND. Two years later, the amount of judgment execution has only been collected 2.4 billion VND.

Bao Ha