The Prosecutor's Office maintains its stance on prosecution.

After 9 days of trial for Kien and his accomplices, today (May 30th), the Procuratorate continues to maintain its stance that Kien's gold trading activities at Thien Nam Company were illegal.

Defendant Nguyen Duc Kien

In response to the defense arguments of the lawyers and the defendant, the Prosecutor's Office continued to state its position: Regarding the crime of illegal business activities, the purchase of shares and stocks in enterprises, according to certain provisions of the Enterprise Law, is defined as a business activity. Therefore, the five companies (excluding Thien Nam Company) in which Kien invested capital, shares, and stocks should have been registered for business. According to the business licenses of the five companies, they were not registered for the business of buying and selling shares and stocks, nor were they registered for supplementary declarations.

The business activities involve trading shares and stocks with 4th and 5th-level codes. Based on the above analysis, the five companies purchased shares and stocks under industry code 6499 (4th level) and industry code 64990 (5th level) but did not register their business. Therefore, this act violates Article 9 of the Enterprise Law…

Based on the above, the Procuratorate maintains its view that the prosecution of the defendants for illegal business activities is well-founded.

Regarding the illegal gold trading through Thien Nam Company, the Procuratorate stated that Thien Nam Company was authorized to trade gold derivatives from ACB Bank – Kien was only responsible for connecting gold transactions, while the responsibility rested with the General Director, Le Quang Trung. On this matter, the Procuratorate presented four viewpoints and concluded that, based on the arguments in the indictment, Kien directed Thien Nam Company to conduct gold trading transactions abroad.

Therefore, the Procuratorate maintains its stance that Kien's gold trading activities at Thien Nam Company were illegal.

Previously, at the trial of "boss" Kien and his accomplices on May 27, the representative of the Procuratorate proposed a 30-year prison sentence for Mr. Nguyen Duc Kien.

Specifically, the prosecutor's recommendations for the defendants were as follows: Nguyen Duc Kien (former chairman of the investment council of ACB Bank, former vice chairman of the board of directors of ACB Bank, former vice chairman of the founding council of ACB): 18-24 months imprisonment for illegal business activities, a fine of 25-30 million VND to be confiscated and deposited into the state treasury, with a proposal to confiscate the money used in illegal business activities; 4-5 years imprisonment for tax evasion, recovery of nearly 25 billion VND in evaded taxes, and a penalty of 2-3 times the amount of evaded taxes to be deposited into the state treasury; 16-18 years imprisonment for fraud and appropriation of property; 14-15 years imprisonment for intentionally violating state regulations on economic management causing serious consequences. He was also banned from holding management positions in credit institutions for 3-5 years.

As for Mr. Pham Trung Cang, a three-year suspended sentence was recommended.

For the group of defendants prosecuted for the crime of Deliberately Acting Against Regulations, defendant Le Vu Ky was recommended a sentence of 7-8 years imprisonment; defendant Trinh Kim Quang was recommended 6-7 years imprisonment; defendant Pham Trung Cang was recommended a 3-year suspended sentence; defendant Ly Xuan Hai was recommended 12-14 years imprisonment; and defendant Huynh Quang Tuan was recommended a 3-year suspended sentence.

Regarding the group of defendants prosecuted for fraud and misappropriation of property, defendant Tran Ngoc Thanh was recommended a sentence of 9-10 years in prison; defendant Nguyen Thi Hai Yen was recommended a sentence of 7-8 years in prison.

According to Seatimes