Defendants at the court (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Hanoi People’s Court said it has received appealsfiled by 11 out of 14 defendants in the first instance trialof the MobiFone’s purchase of 95 percent of shares of the Audio Visual GlobalJSC (AVG).
Three defendants who have not appealed are Truong Minh Tuan (former minister of information and communication), Pham Dinh Trong (former head of the Department ofEnterprise Management under the Ministry of Information and Communications), and Pham Nhat Vu (former Chairman of the AVG Board of Directors).
In their appeals, the defendants asked for clemency and reducedpunishment, but none of them claimed innocence.
The Hanoi People’s Court held the first instancetrial of the case from December 16 -28, 2019.
The case involved 14defendants, including two former ministers of information and communication, Nguyen Bac Son and Truong MinhTuan, who were jailed for life and 16 years in prison, respectively for “receiving bribes” and “violating regulations on the management and useof public investment capital, causing serious consequences”.
Former Chairman of theMobifone Member Council Le Nam Tra and former Mobifone General Director Cao DuyHai were given 23-year and 14-year imprisonment sentences, respectively, forboth charges.
For nine defendants oncharge of “violating regulations on the management and use of public investmentcapital, causing serious consequences”, the court pronounced that former headof the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC)’s Department of EnterpriseManagement Pham Dinh Trong will stay behind bars for five years; Director ofthe AMAX investment consultancy and valuation company Vo Van Manh three yearsand six months; and appraiser Hoang Duy Quang three years.
Member of the MobifoneMember Council Phan Thi Hoa Mai and Hung and three other Mobifone DeputyGeneral Directors Pham Thi Phuong Anh, Ho Tuan and Nguyen Bao Long weresentenced to two years and six months in jail.
Mobifone DeputyGeneral Director Nguyen Dang Nguyen got a two-year jail sentence.
Former Chairman of theAVG Board of Directors Pham Nhat Vu was given a three-year imprisonmentsentence for giving bribes.
In 2015, the MIC-run MobiFone bought 95percent of AVG for 8.9 trillion VND (382.7 million USD), many times higher thanthe actual value of the struggling firm. The deal caused a loss of over 6.59trillion VND (283.3 million USD) to the State./.
VNA
