Capital punishment demanded for former minister for accepting bribe

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 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.

The procuracy’s side proposed sentences for the 14 defendants on December 20 during the on-going first-instance trial at the People’s Court of Hanoi.

The prosecutors said the proposed sentences were made based on the level of law violation of each defendant, their personal records, extenuating and aggravating circumstances, as well as their repentance 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 serious consequences” and the death sentence for accepting bribe, resulting in the combined sentence of death.

For another former minister of information and communication, Truong Minh Tuan, the procuracy proposed 6-7 years in prison for “violating regulations on public investment management, causing serious consequences” and 8-9 years of imprisonment for accepting a 200,000 USD bribe, with the combined sentence of 14-16 years in prison.  

The combined punishment for Le Nam Tra, former Chairman of the Board at MobiFone, was proposed at 23-25 years in prison for two charges of “violating regulations on public investment management, causing serious consequences” and accepting bribe. Tra was said to have received 2.5 million USD worth of bribe.

Meanwhile, the overall sentence for former Director General of MobiFone Cao Duy Hai was proposed at 14-16 years in prison for two charges of “violating regulations on public investment management, causing serious consequences” and accepting a 500,000 USD bribe.

Sentences ranging from 2 to 6 years of imprisonment were proposed for the group of defendants charged with “violating regulations on public investment management, causing serious consequences.”

Meanwhile, an imprisonment of 3 to 4 years was proposed for Pham Nhat Vu, former chairman of AVG, for giving bribe.

In addition, the procuracy proposed an additional punishment for 12 defendants, banning them from holding positions in the field for 1 to 3 years after completing their time 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 struggling firm.

During the purchasing process, Son, Tuan, Tra and Hai made use of their positions to speed up the deal without approval from the Prime Minister, despite knowing about the poor financial situation AVG was in. The deal caused a loss of over 6.59 trillion VND (283.3 million USD) to the State.

Son received 3 million USD from AVG Chairman Vu while Tra, Hai and Tuan got 2.5 million USD, 500,000 USD and 200,000 USD, respectively, to accelerate the transaction.

The trial is expected to run until December 31./.