Trinh Xuan Thanh at the court. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The court on January 9 afternoonlooked into the charges of “property embezzlement” facing Trinh Xuan Thanh,former Chairman of PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC), andhis accomplices during the implementation of the Vung Ang 1 and Quang Trach 1thermal power projects.
According to the indictment, in July 2011, Thanh and Vu Duc Thuan(then PVC General Director) assigned Nguyen Anh Minh (then PVC Deputy GeneralDirector), who was tasked with supervising the Vung Ang – Quang Trach ProjectManagement Board, to instruct Luong Van Hoa (then Director of the Vung Ang –QuangTrach Project Management Board) to transfer the project’s capital to Thanh,Thuan and Minh.
The money was transferred through Bui Manh Hien (then Chiefof the PVC Office), who controlled the expenditure under the instruction ofThanh and Thuan, or was sent to Minh.
From September 28, 2011 to February 23, 2012, Hoa and his subordinatesprepared design, estimate, construction, assessment and payment dossiers forfour auxiliary works of the project. The dossiers were then sent to Minh, who requestedPVC departments to legalise ratification procedures.
Afterwards, Luong Van Hoa colluded with Le Thi Anh Hoa andNguyen Thanh Quynh (then Director and Chief Accountant of Quynh Hoa One-Member Co.Ltd.) to draw up and sign four false contracts under which the management boardhired the Quynh Hoa Company to implement three auxiliary works of the Vung Ang1 thermal power project and one auxiliary work of the Quang Trach 1 thermalpower project, aiming to withdraw more than 13 billion VND (572,000) USD fromthe board.
In this act, Thanh was said to be the mastermind. He,together with Thuan, instructed Minh and Hoa to make false dossiers to withdrawthe money from the board for personal use.
Of the sum, Thanh pocketed 4 billion VND (176,000 USD);Thuan, 800 million VND (35,200 USD); Minh, 3.6 billion VND (158,400 USD) andHien, 400 million VND (17,600 USD), respectively.
Besides, Thanh, Thuan, Minh and Hien must bear responsibilityfor the misuse of 1.5 billion VND (66,000 USD).
At the trial, except Thanh, all the concerned defendantsadmitted their wrongdoings and refunded the money they had received.
Thanh denied his plan on drawing up the false documents to appropriatemore than 13 billion VND from the Vung Ang – Quang Trach Project ManagementBoard for personal use.
Thanh also refuted his embezzlement of 4 billion VND, aswell as 1.5 billion VND which was jointly spent by Thanh, Thuan, Minh and Hien.
Questioned why he asked his family to compensate the board 4billion VND, Thanh said he should take responsibility for the incident at thePVC, so he paid the compensation voluntarily.
The trial also made it clear wrongdoings in the sending andreception of documents relating to Vu Hong Chuong (then head of PetroVietnam's management boardfor the Thai Binh 2 thermal power project) and Phung Dinh Thuc (then PetroVietnamGeneral Director), Nguyen Quoc Khanh (then PetroVietnam Deputy GeneralDirector).
During the questioning session, Dinh La Thang, formerChairman of the Member Council of PetroVietnam, admitted his hastyinstructions, resulting in the wrongdoings.
He, however, still affirmed that the PVC has sufficientcapacity to become the main contractor of the Thai Binh 2 thermal power projectdespite the slow progress.
Besides, the PVC was in charge of only construction works ofthe project while foreign contractors will install machines and equipment, headded.
Regarding the EPC contract No. 33 of the Thai Binh 2 thermalpower project, Thang said he did not receive any report on the lack ofdocuments of the contract.
The court, which opened on January 8, is scheduled to lastfor two weeks.-VNA
VNA
