The procuracy has demanded the death sentence for former Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Bac Son for accepting a 3 million USD bribe in the MobiFone-AVG transaction case (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The procuracyhas demanded the death sentence for former Minister of Information andCommunication Nguyen Bac Son for accepting a 3 million USD bribe in theMobiFone-AVG transaction case.
The procuracy’s side proposedsentences for the 14 defendants on December 20 during the on-goingfirst-instance trial at the People’s Court of Hanoi.
The prosecutors said the proposedsentences were made based on the level of law violation of each defendant, theirpersonal records, extenuating and aggravating circumstances, as well as theirrepentance and actions to compensate for the violations.
Accordingly,they demanded 16 to 18 years in prison for Son for “violating regulations on public investment management, causing seriousconsequences” and the death sentence for accepting bribe,resulting in the combined sentence of death.
For anotherformer minister of information and communication, Truong Minh Tuan, theprocuracy proposed 6-7 years in prison for “violating regulationson public investment management, causing serious consequences” and 8-9years of imprisonment for accepting a 200,000 USD bribe, with the combinedsentence of 14-16 years in prison.
The combinedpunishment for Le Nam Tra, former Chairman of the Board at MobiFone, was proposed at23-25 years in prison for two charges of “violating regulationson public investment management, causing serious consequences” and acceptingbribe. Tra was said to have received 2.5 million USD worth of bribe.
Meanwhile, theoverall sentence for former Director General of MobiFone Cao Duy Hai was proposedat 14-16 years in prison for two charges of “violating regulationson public investment management, causing serious consequences” and acceptinga 500,000 USD bribe.
Sentences rangingfrom 2 to 6 years of imprisonment were proposed for the group of defendantscharged with “violating regulations on public investmentmanagement, causing serious consequences.”
Meanwhile, an imprisonmentof 3 to 4 years was proposed for Pham Nhat Vu, former chairmanof AVG, for giving bribe.
In addition, theprocuracy proposed an additional punishment for 12 defendants, banning themfrom holding positions in the field for 1 to 3 years after completing theirtime in prison.
According to the indictment, in 2015, the MIC-run MobiFone bought 95 percent of AVG for 8.9 trillion VND(382.7 million USD), many times higher than the actual value of the strugglingfirm.
During the purchasing process, Son, Tuan, Traand Hai made use of their positions to speed up the deal without approval fromthe Prime Minister, despite knowing about the poor financial situation AVG wasin. The deal caused a loss of over 6.59 trillion VND (283.3 million USD) to theState.
Son received 3 million USD from AVG ChairmanVu while Tra, Hai and Tuan got 2.5 million USD, 500,000 USD and 200,000 USD,respectively, to accelerate the transaction.
The trial isexpected to run until December 31./.
