Pham Cong Danh (centre), former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Construction Bank, listens to the verdict of the appeal trial on December 25 (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – The High-LevelPeople’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25 upheld the prison sentencesgiven by the municipal People’s Court to 12 defendants involved in the lossesof over 6 trillion VND (258 million USD) at the Vietnam Construction Bank(VNCB).
The high court also rejected the appeal by the High-Level People’sProcuracy in the city to not recover 4.5 trillion VND from the bank’ssuccessor.
On August 6, the HCM City People’s Court handeda 20-year prison term to Pham Cong Danh, former Chairman of the Board ofDirectors of the VNCB, who was found guilty of “deliberately violating Stateregulations on economic management, causing severe consequences” at the bank –now the Construction Bank.
The 45 other defendants in the case receivedfrom two years of suspended sentence to 30 years of imprisonment for the samecharge.
The jury also concluded that certain sums ofmoney must be recovered to address the case’s consequences and ensure thefulfilment of civil obligations.
After the verdict of the first-instance trialwas announced, 14 defendants, six persons with relevant interests andobligations, and the High-Level People’s Procuracy in the city lodged appeals.
At the two-week appeal trial, the court rejectedDanh’s appeal for revoking more money that he believed to be evidence of thecase. It upheld the 30-year imprisonment penalty for Danh, who is also Chairmanof the Board of Members and General Director of Thien Thanh Group, given to himin the first phase of the case last year.
It also dismissed 11 other defendants’ appealsagainst the prison terms given to them, but accepted those of two defendantsand decided to give each of them a three-year suspended prison sentence afterconsidering some new factors in their favour.
Regarding the High-Level Procuracy’s appeal fornot revoking the 4.5 trillion VND from the Construction Bank to return to Danhand handle the case’s consequences, the court ruled that Danh had sent this sumof money to the VNCB to raise this bank’s charter capital, but this move hadbeen rejected by the central bank. Meanwhile, no documents or evidence provingthat Danh had used this money for personal purposes have been found.
Therefore, the jury dismissed the procuracy’sappeal and upheld the first-instance trial’s conclusion that the ConstructionBank must return the 4.5 trillion VND to Danh.
This is the second phase of a case involvingeconomic losses at the VNCB. In this phase, the 45 defendants were accused ofcausing more than 6.1 trillion VND in losses to the VNCB. The first phase dealtwith the losses totalling 9 trillion VND.
The jury found that although Danh and hisaccomplices lacked financial capacity, he still received the Trust Bank, whichhe later renamed the VNCB, from Hua Thi Phan – former senior advisor of themanagement board of Trust Bank, and her accessories.
To maintain the bank’s liquidity, look afterclients and raise charter capital, Danh and his accessories committed a seriesof wrongdoings, causing losses of over 15 trillion VND to VNCB.
In the second phase of the case, Danh used 29companies established in his or other people’s names to borrow money fromSacombank, TPBank and the BIDV. After that, he deposited the money from the VNCBin these banks as guarantees for loans to the 29 companies, causing over 6.1trillion VND in losses to the VNCB when these companies failed to pay off theirdebts.–VNA
VNA
