Phan Van Anh Vu (blue shirt), former chairman of Da Nang-based Bac Nam 79 Construction Joint-Stock Co, at the first-instance trial on losses incurred by DAB, held last year. (Source: VNA) HCM City (VNA) - The Ho Chi Minh CityPeople’s Court on April 22 postponed an appeal trial that had beenproposed by the HCM City People’s Procuracy to ensure the legitimaterights and interests of defendants and others connected to a caseinvolving losses incurred by Dong A Bank (DAB).
The court postponed the trial because of theabsence of many defendants.
Tran Phuong Binh and other defendants wereprosecuted last year by the Supreme People’s Procuracy on chargesof “abusing power to appropriate assets”, “intentionally violatingregulations on economic management, causing serious consequences” and showing“lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences”.
Last November, the HCM City People’s Courtsentenced Binh, former general director and vice chairman of Dong A Bank’s(DAB) management board, to life in jail on the charges of “abusing power toappropriate assets”, and to 20 years in prison for “intentionallyviolating regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences”.
Phan Van Anh Vu (also known as Vu Nhom), formerchairman of the Da Nang-based Bac Nam 79 Construction Joint-Stock Company, wassentenced to 17 years in jail for “abusing power to appropriate assets”.
Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen, former deputy generaldirector of DAB, was sentenced to 20 years in jail for “abusing power toappropriate assets” and to 18 years in jail for “intentionally violatingregulations on economic management, causing serious consequences”. On the twocharges, Xuyen’s total prison sentence will be 30 years.
Another 23 defendants received sentences rangingfrom two years to 17 years, including probation for some.
After the end of the first-instance trial, thedefendants appealed and asked for relief.
However, most defendants were absent at theappeals trial that opened on April 22 in HCM City.
The appeals trial date will be announced later,according to the HCM City People’s Court.
Investigators discovered that Binh, who was alsochairman of DAB’s credit council, owned 10.25 percent of the bank’s chartercapital, and his family members held a further 7.7 percent.
He was also in charge of the bank’s budget andinvestment division at the time, they said.
According to the indictment, Binh directedall activities of funding and investment at DAB and abused his power toappropriate property, causing a loss of 3.6 trillion VND (155.14 million USD).
Binh was charged with “abusing power toappropriate property” for directing DAB officials to spend 1.16 trillion VND toacquire the bank’s shares.
He also changed 294 billion VND to 13.9 millionUSD without proper documentation to later use for personal purposes, and usedan additional 309 billion VND for personal purposes.
Binh was also charged with “intentionallyviolating regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences” forhis directions to spend 467 billion VND on interest payments, 85 billion VND onloan settlements, and 49 billion VND for personal purposes.
He also illegally directed spending in gold andforeign currency, causing a loss of 1.6 trillion VND.
The investigators concluded that Binh caused aloss of 200 billion VND to DAB while raising the bank’s charter capital from 5trillion VND to 6 trillion VND.-VNA
VNA
