Hanoi (VNA) - The High-Level People’s Court in Hanoi on June 8 decided touphold the charge of “asset embezzlement” given to defendants in the assetembezzlement case at PetroVietnam Power Land JSC (PVP Land).

In February2018, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Trinh Xuan Thanh, former Chairman ofthe Board of Directors of PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC), to lifeimprisonment.

Thanh’s accomplices, Dao Duy Phong, former Chairman of PVP Land’s Board ofDirectors, was given a jail sentence of 16 years.  
Dinh ManhThang, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Song Da Oil and GasInvestment and Commerce JSC, got nine years in prison.

Le Hoa Binh, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of 1/5 Construction andServices JSC and Minh Ngan JSC, and Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, former chiefaccountant of 1/5 Construction and Services JSC and Minh Ngan JSC weresentenced to eight-year and six-year imprisonment terms, respectively.

Thai Kieu Huong, former Deputy General Director of Vietsan Investment JSC, andHuynh Nguyen Quoc Duy, a self-employed trader, each received a prison sentenceof 10 years.

All these defendants were charged with “asset embezzlement” in accordance withArticle 278, Clause 4, Count a of the 1999 Penal Code (now is Article 353,Clause 4, Count a of the 2015 Penal Code), according to the court.

Six out of the eight defendants lodged their appeals against the first-instancesentences. However, Thanh and Phong then withdrew their appeals.

Meanwhile, Thang, Huong and Duy asked for a reduction in their jail terms. Thoaclaimed she is innocent in the case.

Phong’s wife, Nguyen Thuy Hoa, who was involved in the case as a person withrelated interests and obligations, also lodged an appeal requesting the returnof 2 billion VND of the money that her family had paid to correct theconsequences of the case as the cash is more than the requested amount.

After reconsideration,the High-Level People’s Court in Hanoi decided to maintain the 6-year jail termhanded down on Thoa. Together with the life imprisonment sentence given to Thoaby the court on March 15, 2017, she will spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Duy still hasto face a prison term of 10 years as ruled by the fist-instance court.Meanwhile, reduced jail sentences of seven years and eight years were given toThang (previously nine years) and Huong (previously 10 years).

The appealcourt also refused Hoa’s appeal requesting the return of 2 billion VND.

BetweenFebruary and mid-April 2010, Thanh, as Chairman of the Board of Directors ofPVC, along with Thang, Duy and Huong, with the support of Binh and Thoainstructed Dao Duy Phong and Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, representatives of PVC’s capitalat PVP Land,  and Dang Sy Hung, chief of PVP Land’s economic and planningdivision, to transfer 12.12 million shares of PVP Land at Trans-PacificServices JSC – the parent company of Vietsan to Minh Ngan JSC with a pricelower than the deposit price.

They appropriated a differential sum of more than 87 billion VND (3.86 millionUSD).

Of the money, Thanh arrogated 14 billion VND, while Thang pocketed 5 billionVND; Phong, 8 billion VND; and Sinh, 2 billion VND.

The defendants received a total of 49 billion VND from the deal.

According to the verdict of the first-instance trial, among the defendants,Thanh played the decisive role in the case, followed by Phong and Sinh.-VNA