This morning the court sentenced Mr. Dinh La Thang and 21 defendants.

This morning, Monday (January 22), after 14 days of trial and deliberation, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced Mr. Dinh La Thang and Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh along with 20 accomplices in the case of Intentional Violation and Embezzlement of Property that occurred at the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Construction Corporation (PVC).

The indictment of the People's Procuracy shows that Mr. Dinh La Thang (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of PVN), Trinh Xuan Thanh (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of PVC) and the defendants took advantage of their special positions in state-owned corporations to commit crimes.

PVN was assigned to be the focal point for investing in the Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant Project, with a total investment after tax of more than 31,505 billion VND, equivalent to nearly 1.7 billion USD. Although the contractor selection procedure had not yet been completed, on June 18, 2010, Mr. Dinh La Thang signed a Resolution assigning PVC to carry out the EPC package of the Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant Project in the form of designated bidding.

On October 11, 2011, PVC officially became the Contractor with legal status to perform the EPC General Contract of Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant Project, but from April 28, 2011 to July 12, 2011, PVN completed procedures to advance PVC more than 6.6 million USD and more than 1,300 billion VND.

After PVC received the advance payment, the defendants Trinh Xuan Thanh, Vu Duc Thuan (former general director of PVC), Nguyen Ngoc Quy (former vice chairman of PVC's board of directors), Nguyen Manh Tien, Pham Tien Dat and Truong Quoc Dung, all key leaders of PVC, used more than 1,115 billion VND for other purposes, not for the project. By November 22, 2017, the authorities had only recovered nearly 1,100 billion VND. The remaining amount (more than 119 billion VND) was determined to be a loss.

The People's Procuracy determined that the damage of 119 billion VND did not fully reflect the nature of the violations... "The defendants' actions were group-interested, causing capital to increase by hundreds of millions of USD, creating a premise for corruption and waste to occur at PVN... Many people were corrupted because of this," the prosecution stated in the indictment.

In addition, Mr. Thanh and the defendants Vu Duc Thuan, Nguyen Anh Minh, Luong Van Hoa, Bui Manh Hien, Nguyen Duc Hung, Nguyen Ly Hai, Le Xuan Khanh, Nguyen Thanh Quynh, and Le Thi Anh Hoa were also involved in the embezzlement of 13 billion VND through creating fake design documents, acceptance, and settlement of four items at the Vung Ang - Quang Trach Thermal Power Plant project (in Ha Tinh).

Proposed sentence for Mr. Dinh La Thang and 21 others before the court announced

From those comments, the People's Procuracy proposed a sentence of 14-15 years in prison for Mr. Dinh La Thang on the charge of intentionally violating State regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences (Article 165 of the 1999 Penal Code).

Mr. Thang was accused of abusing his position at the top of the corporation, even though he knew PVC was incompetent, he still proposed policies and awarded contracts to this company. He directed his subordinates to make false advances, leading to the misuse of more than one trillion VND. The crime is considered a particularly serious case.

Mr. Thang was also assessed by the People's Procuracy as only accepting responsibility as a leader, putting pressure on the progress of the bidding package without realizing that his actions were illegal, so he needed to be severely punished.

Former PVC Board Chairman Trinh Xuan Thanh was proposed to be sentenced to life in prison for both crimes of intentionally violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences (Article 165 of the 1999 Penal Code) and Embezzlement of property (Article 278 of the 1999 Penal Code, Article 353 of the 2015 Penal Code).

The remaining 20 defendants were recommended sentences ranging from 30-36 months in prison, suspended, to 18-19 years in prison.

According to the prosecution, due to the application of the principle of benefiting the offender, the embezzlement of Mr. Thanh and 9 others was tried under point a, article 353 of the 2015 Penal Code (effective from January 1, 2018).

After the debate of the lawyers and defendants, the People's Procuracy added some mitigating circumstances for the 6 defendants. In particular, the People's Procuracy noted that defendants Bui Manh Hien (former chief of PVC office), Pham Tien Dat (former chief accountant of PVC) "actively cooperated", and defendant Nguyen Ly Hai (former head of Technical Department, Executive Board of Vung Ang - Quang Trach project) had excellent achievements.

Defendants Hien, Dat, Luong Van Hoa (former director of the Vung Ang - Quang Trach project management board), Le Dinh Mau (former deputy head of the PVN accounting and auditing department), and Nguyen Ngoc Quy (former vice chairman of PVC's board of directors) have many new details, in addition to actively cooperating with the investigation.

"The People's Court is requested to reduce part of the sentence for the above defendants..., not requiring defendants Quy, Mau, Tien, and Dat to jointly compensate for the damage of more than 119 billion VND from their intentional wrongdoing," the prosecution stated its opinion.

The 22 defendants, in their final statements, all asked for leniency. Mr. Thang "asked" to be released on bail to "celebrate the last Tet with his family, friends, and relatives, and then serve his prison sentence."

"The defendant hopes that the panel of judges will consider his specific situation so that he has enough time to serve his sentences, so that before he passes away, he can be recognized as someone who has completed his duties," he told the court.