Former Minister Nguyen Bac Son's sentence upheld, other defendants' sentences reduced

On the afternoon of April 27, the High People's Court in Hanoi concluded the criminal appeal trial considering the appeal of defendant Nguyen Bac Son (former Minister of Information and Communications) and his accomplices in the case that occurred at MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation (abbreviated as MobiFone) buying 95% of the shares of Global Audiovisual Joint Stock Company (AVG).

During the previous trial days, the defendants all pleaded guilty and asked for a reduced sentence, no defendant appealed.

Defendant Nguyen Bac Son apologizes to the Party, State and People

Expressing his views on the sentence imposed by the Court of First Instance on the defendants, the representative of the High People's Procuracy in Hanoi, exercising the right to prosecute at the trial, requested the appellate panel to reject the appeal and uphold the first instance sentence against defendant Nguyen Bac Son (life imprisonment for two crimes: Receiving bribes and violating regulations on management and use of public investment capital causing serious consequences).

The representative of the Procuracy proposed to reduce the sentence of defendant Le Nam Tra (former Chairman of the Board of Members of MobiFone) for violating regulations on management and use of public investment capital causing serious consequences (first instance sentence of 7 years in prison); maintain the sentence of 16 years in prison for bribery.

The two former leaders of MobiFone, defendant Nguyen Dang Nguyen and defendant Nguyen Bao Long, were also asked by the representative of the Procuracy to have their sentences reduced on the grounds that the Court of First Instance had not considered all the mitigating circumstances for them.

Regarding the defendants who are former leaders of MobiFone, including Ho Tuan, Phan Thi Hoa Mai, Pham Thi Phuong Anh, Nguyen Manh Hung and Hoang Duy Quang, the representative of the Procuracy found that the sentence given to them by the Court of First Instance was in accordance with the provisions of the law after considering all mitigating grounds, therefore, requested the Appellate Court to uphold the first instance judgment.

In his final statement before the appellate panel deliberated on the verdict, defendant Nguyen Bac Son apologized to the Party, the State, the People and the Information and Communications sector, because his violations had affected the reputation of the entire sector. The defendant hoped that the panel would acknowledge his sincerity and share his mistakes to some extent. Defendant Nguyen Bac Son affirmed that in this case there was no discussion or agreement before receiving the money. And the defendant had honestly confessed and recovered all the bribes, so he hoped that the panel would consider reducing his sentence.

Before stopping, defendant Nguyen Bac Son asked the appellate panel to consider leniency for the remaining defendants, reducing their sentences to the lowest level.

In his turn to speak last, defendant Le Nam Tra stated that after the incident, he seriously admitted his guilt and accepted his responsibility. The representative of the Procuracy proposed a reduction in his sentence, and he hoped that the appellate panel would reduce his sentence because of his honest confession, and at the same time, he would recover all the bribes he received.

Before stopping, defendant Le Nam Tra also asked the appellate panel to consider and reduce the sentences for the defendants who were once leaders of MobiFone. In turn, the remaining defendants asked the appellate panel to consider reducing their sentences, hoping to receive suspended sentences on the grounds that the defendants were all subordinates to their superiors, had no discussions when implementing this project, and did not benefit from it.

Defendant Nguyen Bac Son's sentence upheld, other defendants' sentences reduced

The Appellate Court affirmed that in 2015, MobiFone implemented a television service investment project in the form of state capital investment to buy 95% of AVG's shares for VND8,900 billion, a group A project - the Prime Minister's authority to decide on investment policies. However, during the implementation of MobiFone's television service investment project, 14 defendants in different positions and roles violated the law in proposing the investment project, assessing AVG's finances and business; appraising prices, using the results of enterprise valuation in negotiating and deciding on the purchase price of AVG's shares; submitting the project and deciding on the approval of the investment project, and making payments, causing particularly serious damage to state assets with a total loss of more than VND6,590 billion.

In addition, during the project implementation, defendant Pham Nhat Vu (Chairman of AVG Board of Directors) bribed 4 defendants: Nguyen Bac Son, Truong Minh Tuan, Le Nam Tra and Cao Duy Hai with a total amount of 6.2 million USD.

The appellate panel determined that in this case, defendant Nguyen Bac Son played the main role and therefore must bear the highest responsibility. The other defendants were accomplices. “At the first instance trial, the panel applied all mitigating circumstances for defendant Son. During the appeal trial, defendant Son also failed to present any new documents, so there was no basis to consider reducing the sentence,” the appellate panel stated.

With the above verdict, the appellate panel decided to uphold the first instance sentence for defendant Son (16 years in prison for violating regulations on investment management and use of public capital causing serious consequences; life imprisonment for accepting bribes. The total sentence is life imprisonment). Defendant Le Nam Tra's sentence was reduced from 7 years to 4 years in prison for violating regulations on investment management and use of public capital causing serious consequences; the sentence of 16 years in prison for accepting bribes was upheld. The total sentence is 20 years in prison.

The defendants Phan Thi Hoa Mai (former member of MobiFone's Board of Directors), Ho Tuan (former Deputy General Director of MobiFone), Pham Thi Phuong Anh (former Deputy General Director of MobiFone), Nguyen Manh Hung (former Deputy General Director of MobiFone) and Nguyen Bao Long (former Deputy General Director of MobiFone) all had their sentences reduced from 30 months to 12 months in prison for violating regulations on investment management and use of public capital causing serious consequences.

Defendant Nguyen Dang Nguyen (former Deputy General Director in charge of the position of General Director of MobiFone) had his sentence reduced from 24 months in prison to 12 months in prison but given a suspended sentence for violating regulations on investment management and use of public capital causing serious consequences. Defendant Hoang Duy Quang (former Appraiser of AMAX Appraisal Company) had his sentence reduced from 36 months in prison to 14 months in prison for violating regulations on investment management and use of public capital causing serious consequences.

Nguyen Hung