The former chairman of Vinashin and his seven accomplices have lodged appeals for lighter sentences.
8 out of 9 accused lodged appeals
April 16 was the deadline for filing appeals in this case, in which nine accused were found guilty by the provincial People's Court of intentionally violating economic management regulations, leading to disastrous consequences in Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin).
Only one out of the nine has foregone an appeal to the Supreme People's Court.
The only one of the group who failed to lodge an appeal was Nguyen Tuan Duong, former Chairman of the Board of Cuu Long Trading Investment Joint Stock Company. He was sentenced to three years in prison for misappropriation of company assets.
Pham Thanh Binh, former Chairman of Vinashin, asked that his 20-year sentence, the maximum penalty allowed by law, to be reduced.
During the initial trial, the former chairman was found guilty of misconducts involving three separate projects, including the purchase of a ship and the construction of two thermal power plants. The beginning of his sentence is considered to have started on August 4, 2010. He was also banned from any future positions in Government agencies or economic institutions for five years after the end of his prison term.
Tran Van Liem, former General Director of Vinashin Lines, a subsidiary of Vinashin, was sentenced 19 years for his role in the ship deal, which resulted in a loss of VND600 billion (USD28.74 million).
Accused To Nghiem, former Director of Cai Lan Shipbuilding Industry Company, was sentenced 18 years in prison due to his buying Cai Lan thermal power plant and signing to take over the plant though it hadn’t been finished yet.
Nguyen Van Tuyen, former Director of Hoang Anh Information Technology Joint Stock Company, was sentenced 16 years for his participation in the thermal power plant scandal. The power plant, Song Hong, was submitted without any competent engineering designs and documents were forged to submit to relevant agencies in order to borrow the capital from Vinashin.
Accused Trinh Thi Hau, former Deputy General Director of Vietnam Shipbuilding Finance Company (VFC), was sentenced to 14 years in prison due to illegal disbursement of funds and approving loans without accurately accessing the projects.
Accused Hoang Gia Hiep, former Deputy General Director of VFC, was sentenced 13 years in prison due to his illegal disbursement of funds in Hoa Sen Ship buying project.
Accused Tran Quang Vu, former Chairman of Nam Trieu Company’s direction board and General Director of this company, a subsidy of Vinashin, was sentenced 11 years in prison due to illegal sale of Bach Dang Giang Ship’s hull.
Do Dinh Con, former chief accountant of Hoang Anh Company, was originally sentenced 10 years in prison for facilitating the director of Hoang Anh Company to develop Song Hong thermal power plant and helping to provide the fake documents necessary to borrow the funds.
In order to help their appeals case, many of the convicted men have agreed to make some financial compensation. VFC will be reimbursed VND1 billion (USD47,915) by Tran Quang Vu, and Vinashin Group will be compensated VND5 billion (USD239,578) by Nguyen Tuan Duong. The money will be temporarily held by Hai Phong City’s Civil Judgment Enforcement Agency to ensure that all promised compensations are fully made.
Altogether, Pham Thanh Binh and his eight accomplices will have to pay more than VND2 billion (USD95,831) in legal costs.