At the first-instance court (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA)– The High-Level People’s Court in Hanoi will open an appeal trial for the case involving MobiFone TelecommunicationsCorporation’s purchase of a 95 percent share in Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG) onApril 23.
The trial had been initiallyscheduled for April 13-16. However, it was suspended due to the complexdevelopments of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rescheduled appealtrial is expected to last until April 26.
Elevenof the 14 defendants filed appeals, asking for clemency and reduced sentences.Later, two of them withdrew their requests, namely former General Director ofMobiFone Cao Duy Hai and former Director of the AMAX investment consultancy andvaluation company Vo Van Manh.
FormerMinister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan, former head of theMinistry of Information and Communications (MIC)’s Department of EnterpriseManagement Pham Dinh Trong, and former Chairman of the AVG Board of Directors Pham Nhat Vu did not appeal againsttheir penalties.
During the first-instance court held by theHanoi People’s Court from December 16-28 last year, Tuan was sentenced to eightyears in prison for “taking bribes” and another six years for “violatingregulations on the management and use of public investment capital, causingserious consequences”. The total sentence for him is 14 years behind bars.
Trong received a five-year term for “violatingregulations on the management and use of public investment capital, causingserious consequences”. Meanwhile, Vu has to spend three years in jail for“giving bribes”.
Former Minister of Information and CommunicationsNguyen Bac Son was given life imprisonment for “taking bribes” and 16 years inprison for “violating regulations on the management and use of publicinvestment capital, causing serious consequences”. The total sentence is lifeimprisonment.
Former Deputy General Directors of MobiFone Ho Tuan andNguyen Manh Hung received a prison sentence of two and a half years each for“violating regulations on the management and use of public investment capital,causing serious consequences”, according to the first-instance trial’s verdict.
It found that in 2015, MobiFone, run by the Ministry of Information and Communications,bought 95 percent of AVG’s shares for 8.9 trillion VND (375 million USD), muchhigher than their actual value. The deal caused a loss of over 6.59 trillionVND (277 million USD) to the State./.
VNA
