The Court of Appeal upheld the life sentence for Huyen Nhu.

On January 7, at the end of the appeal trial of Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu's case, the Supreme People's Court of Appeal upheld the life sentence for defendant Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu (born in 1978, from Tien Giang), former Deputy Head of Risk Management Department of Vietinbank - Ho Chi Minh City Branch.

Defendants at the appeal hearing. Photo: VNA

On the other hand, if during the investigation, there are signs of the crime of "Embezzlement of property", then continue to consider and handle the people involved.

At the trial, the Trial Panel held that defendant Huyen Nhu was appointed to the position of Transaction Office Manager according to Vietinbank's decision in 2010. Accordingly, the defendant had the right to sign loan documents, sign and approve and control loan documents, and had the right to confirm balances...

With that evidence and the results of the public interrogation, it is shown that in the process of performing the assigned task, Huyen Nhu completely violated the procedures. From that, the Trial Panel has grounds to affirm that Huyen Nhu is a person with a position of authority, and the defendant took advantage of this to commit the crime.

From the above comments, the Trial Panel has partially annulled the first instance judgment against Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu for re-investigation and re-trial, and at the same time requested to consider the responsibility of Vietinbank.

In addition, the Trial Panel also upheld the compensation amount of Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu to Zen Plaza Company at 45.5 billion VND; to Navibank at 200 billion VND; to VIB at 135 billion VND; to ACB Bank at over 668 billion VND and a number of other individuals.

Regarding other defendants involved in this case, the Trial Panel upheld the 20-year prison sentence for defendant Vo Anh Tuan, former Deputy Director of Vietinbank Nha Be branch; at the same time, it partially annulled the first instance judgment against defendant Vo Anh Tuan for the crime of "fraudulent appropriation of property" against Hung Yen Investment Joint Stock Company, and returned the case file to the Investigation Agency for re-investigation and retrial.

The jury also upheld the sentences for the following defendants: Huynh My Hanh to 14 years in prison; Hoang Huong Giang to 8 years in prison; Pham Thi Tuyet Anh to 15 years in prison; Doan Le Du to 17 years in prison; Nguyen Thien Ly to 2 years in prison (the total sentence of the previous sentence is 6 years in prison) and Tran Thi To Uyen to 14 years in prison.

For the defendants who did not appeal, the sentences were: Nguyen Thi Lanh 9 years in prison; Hung My Phuong 2 years 2 months 10 days in prison (completed prison sentence, released in court); Pham Van Chi 1 year in prison but suspended sentence.

The trial panel partially amended the first instance verdict for a number of defendants, with the appellate sentences being Huynh Huu Danh to 14 years in prison; Dao Thi Tuyet Dung to 15 years in prison; Pham Anh Tuan to 11 years in prison; Luong Thi Viet Yen to 6 years in prison; Ho Hai Sy to 5 years in prison; Tran Thanh Thanh to 9 years in prison; Tong Nguyen Dung to 5 years in prison; Huynh Trung Chi to 7 years in prison; Bui Ngoc Quyen to 13 years in prison; Vu Nguyen Xuan Tien to 9 years in prison; Nguyen Thi Phuc Ngan to 10 years in prison; Le Thi Ngoc Loi to 3 years in prison but suspended.

Thus, in this group, only defendant Dao Thi Tuyet Dung had her sentence increased compared to the first instance verdict (first instance 12 years in prison, appeal 15 years in prison), while the other defendants all had their sentences reduced.

Regarding compensation liability, the Trial Panel ordered defendant Pham Van Chi to pay back more than VND23 billion; Nguyen Thi Lanh to pay more than VND9,000 billion; Huynh My Phuong to pay more than VND218 billion; Dao Thi Tuyet Dung to pay more than VND440 billion; Nguyen Thien Ly to pay more than VND1,200 billion; Pham Anh Tuan to pay more than VND72 billion. The Trial Panel also continued to maintain the order to seize assets and freeze accounts of defendants Huyen Nhu, Nguyen Thi Lanh, Vo Anh Tuan, Nguyen Thien Ly and Pham Anh Tuan.

The Trial Panel also recommended that the Supreme People's Procuracy initiate a criminal case and prosecute Truong Minh Hoang and Nguyen Thi Minh Huong, former Deputy Director of Vietinbank - Ho Chi Minh City Branch, for investigation on the charge of "Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences."

At the same time, the Trial Council also recommended that the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Agency prosecute additional subjects who assisted Huyen Nhu and loan sharks who have not been prosecuted.

Previously, on January 27, 2014, at the first instance trial, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu to life in prison for the crimes of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Forgery of seals and documents of agencies and organizations."

The remaining 22 defendants received sentences ranging from 1 to 20 years in prison.

Regarding civil liability, the court of first instance ordered Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu alone to compensate 2,185 billion VND that she illegally appropriated, and in addition, the defendant must jointly with a number of other defendants compensate more than 1,708 billion VND to the victims.

The court also ordered Vietinbank to return more than 24 billion VND in 19 accounts at Vietinbank to ACB Bank. To ensure execution of the judgment, for Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu alone, the first instance court seized the defendant's money and assets, including 82 billion VND, 3 cars (Honda, Lexus, Toyota) and 12 other real estates (the first instance court fees that Huyen Nhu had to pay were nearly 2.3 billion VND).

To appropriate money from units, banks and individuals without being detected, Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu took advantage of the name of Vietinbank - Ho Chi Minh City Branch and Nha Be Branch; asking units and individuals to open their payment accounts at these two branches.

In order to create trust for units and individuals to sign contracts to transfer money, Nhu forged the seals and signatures of leaders of Vietinbank - Nha Be Branch; then created capital investment contracts and deposit contracts for them to transfer money into accounts opened at Vietinbank - Ho Chi Minh City Branch and Nha Be Branch.

From here, Nhu continued to forge the seals of many companies to withdraw and appropriate nearly 4,000 billion VND from 3 banks, 9 companies and 3 individuals.

According to Vietnam+