Vietnam prosecutors seek 2nd life sentence for former oil executive
NAN-F-19
Sentence
Hanoi, Feb. 2, 2018 (dpa/NAN) Vietnam prosecutors recommended a second life sentence for a former oil executive, who was allegedly kidnapped by Vietnamese security forces while on exile in Berlin in 2017 as trial resumed on Friday.
Trinh Thanh, the former chairman of PetroVietnam Construction (PVC), a subsidiary of the state oil company PetroVietnam (PVN), fled Vietnam to Germany in 2016 to evade criminal charges.
He resurfaced in August in Vietnamese police custody.
“The trial is still being argued today, and the Procuracy of Hanoi has proposed a life sentence,” Nguyen Quynh, lawyer to the accused said.
Thanh had been sentenced to life in prison on Jan. 22 for economic crimes and corruption in a first trial related to the construction of a power plant in northern Vietnam.
His lawyer said that he would appeal against the life sentence in the first trial.
Germany accuses Vietnamese intelligence agents of kidnapping him in broad daylight as he walked through a park in the heart of Berlin.
Vietnam denies spiriting him away.
The Hanoi People’s Court jury had on Sunday suspended the trial for four days to clarify the origin of 19 billion Vietnamese dong (836,635 dollars) allegedly embezzled by Thanh and one of his co-defendants.
Thanh, along with co-defendant Dinh Thang, allegedly embezzled the money through Thai Kieu Huong, the former vice general director of Vietsan.
According to the indictment, Thanh is accused of embezzling 14 billion dong, although he repaid the sum after the deal fell apart, however, he pocketed 5 billion dong.
The deal was suspected to have cost the government a total of 49 billion dong through the underselling of shares.
“On Friday, the Procuracy said there were grounds to conclude that Thanh played a leading role in transferring more than 12 million shares of PVP Land for 34 million Vietnamese dong (1,506 dollars) per square metre.
“The amount was lower than the shareholder’s price of 52 million dong (2,303 dollars.
“Thanh rejected the charge, saying he did not commit any crime in this case ),’’ Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, adding that he said the prosecutors’ claims of him being the instigator are groundless.
The court is scheduled to issue a verdict on Feb. 7. (Xinhua/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Obike Ukoh
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