Hanoi (VNA) – Four former executives of Binh Son Refining andPetrochemical JSC (BSR) on January 22 were sentenced to four to eight years inprison for charges of “abusing position and power to appropriate assets”, followinga two-day trial.
Specifically, Vu Manh Tung (born in 1974,former Deputy Director General of BSR) received an eight-year prison term;Nguyen Hoai Giang (born in 1968, former Chairman of BSR’s Council of Members)got seven years in prison; Pham Xuan Quang (born in 1980, former ChiefAccountant of BSR) was sentenced to six years imprisonment; and Dinh Van Ngoc(born in 1973, former General Director of BSR) was handed a four-yearimprisonment penalty.
According to the indictment, from 2009-2014,BSR – a subsidiary of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) based in thecentral province of Quang Ngai – made fixed-term and demand deposits at theQuang Ngai branch of OceanBank.
The move was made under PetroVietnam’sdirection regarding the prioritisation of using OceanBank services, to whichPetroVietnam contributed 20 percent of the charter capital.
As the then leaders of BSR in 2013 and2014, the four defendants decided to deposit the company’s money at OceanBankand received extra interest payment which was not included in the contracts.The extra interest was paid by then General Director of OceanBank Nguyen MinhThu, under the instruction of former Chairman of the Board of Directors ofOceanBank Ha Van Tham.
Vu Manh Tung received and appropriated 2.9billion VND (124,800 USD) and 40,000 USD; while Nguyen Hoai Giang pocketed 2.9billion VND; Pham Xuan Quang, 1.8 billion VND and 20,000 USD; and Dinh VanNgoc, 1.3 billion VND, the indictment reads.
The verdict said that the behaviour of the defendantswas extremely serious and lasted for a long time, thus harming the legitimateactivities of BSR and OceanBank and affecting the assets of the bank and itsshareholders.
Their acts also had negative impact on thecompany’s economic activities, as well as the implementation of the State’smonetary and financial policies.
The court also asked the defendants to payback the over 10 billion VND they had appropriated to Ha Van Tham, who wasordered to return the money to OceanBank.–VNA