Defendants Tat Thanh Cang (front, right) and Te Chi Dung (front, left) at the trial opened on December 27. (Photo: VNA)

He is one of the 20 defendants standing trial in this case.

In the case, Tat Thanh Cang, Pham Van Thong (former Deputy Chief of the Office of the municipal Party Committee), and some other defendants holing key leadership positions of HCM City, the Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Co. Ltd (IPC), and the South Saigon Development JSC (SADECO) were assigned to manage the State’s assets and carry out the State’s regulations on the presentation of State capital at enterprises.

However, driven by different motives and purposes, under Cang’s leadership and decision-making role, the defendants committed an array of violations in the transfer of 9 million shares of SADECO to the Nguyen Kim company without bidding and assessment by an organisation specialised in price appraisal.

Those wrongdoings led to losses of over 669.6 billion VND (29.3 million USD at the current exchange rate) to the State.

Te Chi Dung (former General Director of the IPC and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of SADECO), Ho Thi Thanh Phuc (former General Director of SADECO), and their accomplices abused their authority in managing remuneration and rewards at SADECO to make deceits to illegally spend the money that this company should have paid to the municipal Party Committee’s Office and the IPC. They appropriated more than 4.6 billion VND.

Dung also ordered Phuc and other accessories to spend SADECO’s money on foreign trips by many individuals in the name of “fact-finding tours”, causing losses of over 2.1 billion VND to the State.

The HCM City People’s Procuracy prosecuted Cang and 11 other defendants for “violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness”.

Meanwhile, Dung, Phuc, and five others faced the two charges of “violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness” and “embezzling assets”. Nguyen Van Minh, former Chairman of the IPC Members’ Council, was accused of “embezzling assets”.

The trial, heard by the HCM City People’s Court, is scheduled to last until January 10, 2022.

Appeal trial for ex-Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang opens

The People’s Court of Hanoi on December 27 opened an appeal trial for former Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and several other defendants in a case which occurred in the ministry, Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage JSC (Sabeco) and Ho Chi Minh City, causing a loss of over 2.7 trillion VND (118.2 million USD) for the State.

Hoang and three other defendants appealed against the first-instance sentences, asking for reduced punishiment.

Earlier, at the instance trial, the court sentenced Hoang to 11 years’ imprisonment for “violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness”.

Also on the same charge, Phan Chi Dung, former Director of the Light Industry Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), got nine years in jail under Article 219 of the 2015 Penal Code’s Clause 3.

In line with Article 229 of the 2015 Penal Code’s Clause, eight other accomplices of Hoang, who are former Ho Chi Minh City officials, were sentenced to between 30 months and 7 years in prison for “violating regulations on land management.”. Three of them have already been convicted in other cases for “violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness”, thus their aggregate jail terms adding to from six to 14 years.

Appealing after the first instance hearing, Hoang and three other defendants requested the appeal court to consider mitigating their sentences.

According to the indictment from the Supreme People’s Procuracy, the Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage JSC (Sabeco), which is under the MoIT’s management, was given more than 6,000 sq.m of land at the No. 2-4-6 on Hai Ba Trung street in downtown HCM City for production and business purposes.

However, Hoang, Dung, and former Deputy Minister of the MoIT Ho Thi Kim Thoa, who has fled, directed subordinates at the ministry and Sabeco to carry out procedures for using land use rights and Sabeco's money as capital contributions to set up Sabeco Pearl, a joint venture between the firm and a number of private enterprises, to implement a project building a hotel, a trade and convention centre, and office space for lease on the land.

After Sabeco completed legal procedures for the joint venture’s investment and proposed the HCM City People’s Committee approve the addition of officetel and housing functions to this project, the MoIT ordered the company to divest its entire stake in this project.

This was illegal and resulted in the loss of over 2.7 trillion VND to the State.

However, the appeal trial was later cancelled as several defendants and parties with related obligations and interests were absent. Hoang was receiving treatment at hospital and not able to attend the trial. Another defendant was absent because he was being in medical quarantine.

Former top Hanoi leader brought to trial over power abuse

Former Chairman of the Hà Nội’s People’s Committee Nguyễn Đức Chung was brought to trial on Monday on a charge of “abusing position and power while performing duties.”

The case involved illegal interference in bidding activities, enabling Nhật Cường Company to win contracts.

According to the indictment, Chung abused his position and power to illegally interfere in bidding activities for a deal on the digitisation of business registration documents in 2016 at the city’s Department of Planning and Investment.

Later, he asked the department to allow the Nhật Cường to pilot digitalisation of the bidding package for the personal purpose of making the company win the bid and enjoy the benefits, causing losses of over VNĐ26.5 billion (US$1.16 million) to the State budget.

Notably, Minh Hoa company led by Nguyễn Thị Trúc Chi Hoa, Chung’s wife, signed a contract with Nhật Cường to enable the Nhật Cường – Đông Kinh joint venture to validate its bidding dossier and win the bid.

Six other defendants in the case were prosecuted for violating bidding regulations, causing serious consequences, in accordance with Article 222 of the Penal Code.

They were former Chief of the Office of the municipal Party Committee and former Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Văn Tứ; former Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Tiến Học; former head of the business registration office under the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Phạm Thị Kim Tuyến; former Chief of the Office of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Phạm Thị Thu Hường; Director of the Đông Kinh Development and Investment Co. Võ Việt Hùng; and Business Director of the Đông Kinh Development and Investment Co. Lê Duy Tuấn.

The trial is scheduled to last five days.

Chung is currently serving a five-year sentence for appropriating secret State files related to Nhật Cường Mobile’s accounting irregularities, smuggling and money laundering.

Earlier this month, the former Chairman of Hà Nội People's Committee was sentenced by Hà Nội People's Court to eight years in jail over the illegal purchase of the water cleaning agent Redoxy 3C for the capital city. 

Source: VNA