Ex-Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang (front, first from left) and some other defendants at the trial on January 7 before it is postponed (Photo: VNA)The trial on January 7 was postponed due to theabsence of three defendants and many people with related interests andobligations.
The jury also asked relevant agencies to summonall defendants and related people once the trial is resumed.
Hoang, born in 1953, and Phan Chi Dung, born in1957 and the former Director of the Light Industry Department at the Ministryof Industry and Trade (MoIT), faced a charge of “violating regulations on themanagement and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness”.
The eight other defendants, who are former HCMCity officials, including Nguyen Huu Tin (born in 1957 and the former ViceChairman of the municipal People’s Committee), were accused of “violatingregulations on land management”.
Tin and two others who are former officials ofHCM City were absence from the trial on January 7.
According to the indictment from the SupremePeople’s Procuracy, the Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage JSC (Sabeco), which isunder the MoIT’s management, was given 6,080 sq.m of land in Ben Nghe ward ofHCM City’s District 1 for non-agricultural production and business purposes.
However, Hoang, former Deputy Minister HoThi Kim Thoa, and Dung directed subordinates at the ministry and Sabeco tocarry out procedures for using land use rights and Sabeco's money as capitalcontributions to set up Sabeco Pearl, a joint venture between the firm and anumber of private enterprises, to implement a project building a hotel, a tradeand convention centre, and office space for lease on the land.
After Sabeco completed legal procedures for thejoint venture’s investment and proposed the HCM City People’s Committee approvethe addition of officetel and housing functions to this project, the MoITordered the company to transfer all of Sabeco's stake in this project to theprivate enterprises in the joint venture.
As a result, the right to manage and use theland, which is a State asset and worth more than 3.816 trillion VND (over 164million USD), was illegally transferred to private firms, causing a“particularly big” loss of over 2.713 trillion VND to the State, according tothe indictment.
Another of the accused, Ho Thi Kim Thoa, hasfled, and the investigation police agency has put her on the wanted list./.
VNA
