Defendants at the appeal trial (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - The Hanoi-based High-level People’s Court opened an appealtrial on May 4 for a case of acquiring State-owned land illegally in thecentral city that involved two former top leaders of Da Nang and real estatemogul Phan Van Anh Vu.
The trial is expected to take place fromsix to eight days. The first-instance on the case was held from January 2-13this year. Of the 21 convicts, 20 filed appeals.
Tran Van Minh, chairman of the city’sPeople’s Committee for the 2006 – 2011 term, appealed against his combinedsentence of 17 years on the charges of breaching regulations on managing andusing State assets that caused losses and wastefulness, and violations of landmanagement regulations. Minh said he was only following the city’s policies.
In the appeal trial, Minh asked the jury tosummon a representative of the Ministry of Public Security to determine thelegality of the issuance of Dispatch No.203 which requested Minh to allow theministry’s Bac Nam 79 Construction Company to purchase land. He also asked thejury to summon Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Huynh Duc Tho toclarify further the change of land-use purposes for several land lots relatedto the case.
Former chairman of the city’s People’sCommittee Van Huu Chien, 66, asked the court to re-consider the punishment anddecision on civilian liability. He was given a combined sentence of 12 years inprison on the same charges as Minh.
Phan Van Anh Vu appealed against thefirst-instance sentence, under which he has to serve 30 years in prison also onthe charges of breaching regulations on managing and using State assets thatcaused losses and wastefulness, and violations of land management regulations.
The other defendants argued that they onlyfollowed instructions of their superiors and asked for reduced sentences.
According to the verdict at thefirst-instance trial, Minh and Chien were tasked with managing State’s assetsand public land in the city during their time in office between 2006 and 2014.
The two repeatedly signed orders toillegally transfer land use rights over to Vu at much lower prices than thoseregulated by the Da Nang People’s Committee.
At the time of the first-instance trial, Vuwas already serving a sentence of nine years after a Hanoi court found himguilty of deliberately disclosing state secrets last year./.
VNA
