Former Chief Accountant Vo Quang Huy (L) and former General Director of Vietsovpetro Tu Thanh Nghia listen to the verdict on March 22 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Twoformer leaders of the Vietnam-Russia oil and gas joint ventureVietsovpetro have been given prison sentences for “abusing position andpower to appropriate assets”.
According to the verdict announced by the HanoiPeople’s Court on March 22, Tu Thanh Nghia (born in 1962), former GeneralDirector of Vietsovpetro will have to spend three years and a half behind bars,while Vo Quang Huy (born in 1961), former Chief Accountant of Vietsovpetro willbe imprisoned for seven years.
The court said as leaders of Vietsovpetro, in2013 and 2014, Huy and Nghia decided on the depositing of the firm’s money atthe Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OceanBank).
From July 2013 to 2014, Nghia signed 10fixed-term VND deposit contracts involving 1.9 trillion VND and five fixed-termUSD deposit contracts involving 55 million USD. As the Chief Accountant, Huyproposed the depositing and submitted all the contracts to then GeneralDirector Nghia to sign with OceanBank’s Vung Tau branch.
To encourage the two to continue supportingVietsovpetro’s depositing of money into OceanBank, the bank’s then General DirectorNguyen Minh Thu paid them extra-interest that was not stated in contracts onmany occasions.
Huy and Nghia admitted they had received themoney and used it for personal purposes.
Nghia confirmed that he had been paid 1.5billion VND and 30,000 USD by Thu. Meanwhile, the court said there issufficient basis proving that Huy had received 2.7 billion VND and 70,000 USD fromThu although the procuracy charged him with having gained 5.2 billion USD and130,000 USD.
According to the verdict, while Huy held animportant role in proposing the depositing and forms of deposit accounts, Nghiawas the one who decided on and signed the deposit contracts. The nature andlevel of violations as well as the money appropriated by Huy were higher thanNghia’s, so the former Chief Accountant also has to bear greater criminalliability than that of the former General Director.
The court said it gave the sentences aftertaking into consideration their sincere confessions, return of the appropriatedmoney and contributions to the oil and gas sector.-VNA
VNA
