The Supreme People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City in its appeal trial on Mar. 17ordered Huynh Ngoc Si, former director of the ODA-funded East-West Avenueproject, to serve six years in prison instead of the three-year term to which hewas sentenced at the first instance trial last September.
The court alsoordered Si’s deputy on the project - Le Qua – to serve a five-year jail terminstead of the previous sentence of two years.
Both were convicted of“abusing position and power while in the commission of their duties”, accordingto the court, which accepted the proposal by the Municipal People’s Procuracy onincreasing the prison terms of both ex-officials.
At the appeal, both Siand Qua sought suspended sentences, but the judgement came down in favour of theproposal by the municipal procuracy to, instead, lengthen thesentences.
Si, who was also former deputy director of HCM City’sDepartment of Transport, along with Le Qua, misappropriated funds earned fromleasing a State-owned house on Nguyen Thi Dieu Street in District 3 to Japan’sPacific Consultants International (PCI).
The money received from thecontract between August 2001 and November 2002, estimated at around 1.2 billionVND (66,500 USD), was excluded in official accounts and disbursed among 87officials working on the project.
Si took 52 million VND and Qua took 54million VND from the contract. The two officials also used 350 million VND for“treating guests”.
The case was brought to light following the JapaneseGovernment’s suggestion that Vietnam investigate allegations of PCI officialspaying bribes in order to be awarded contracts./.
The court alsoordered Si’s deputy on the project - Le Qua – to serve a five-year jail terminstead of the previous sentence of two years.
Both were convicted of“abusing position and power while in the commission of their duties”, accordingto the court, which accepted the proposal by the Municipal People’s Procuracy onincreasing the prison terms of both ex-officials.
At the appeal, both Siand Qua sought suspended sentences, but the judgement came down in favour of theproposal by the municipal procuracy to, instead, lengthen thesentences.
Si, who was also former deputy director of HCM City’sDepartment of Transport, along with Le Qua, misappropriated funds earned fromleasing a State-owned house on Nguyen Thi Dieu Street in District 3 to Japan’sPacific Consultants International (PCI).
The money received from thecontract between August 2001 and November 2002, estimated at around 1.2 billionVND (66,500 USD), was excluded in official accounts and disbursed among 87officials working on the project.
Si took 52 million VND and Qua took 54million VND from the contract. The two officials also used 350 million VND for“treating guests”.
The case was brought to light following the JapaneseGovernment’s suggestion that Vietnam investigate allegations of PCI officialspaying bribes in order to be awarded contracts./.
