At the court (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Hanoi People’s Court on December 16opened the first instance trial of the case of telecom giant MobiFone’spurchase of 95 percent of Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG).
Among the 14 defendants to be tried, 13 have been charged with “violating regulations on public investmentmanagement, causing serious consequences” under Clause 3, Article 220 of the2015 Criminal Code.
They include former ministers of informationand communication Nguyen Bac Son and Truong Minh Tuan, and former head of theMinistry of Information and Communication (MIC)’s Enterprise ManagementDepartment Phan Dinh Trong.
Vo Van Manh and Hoang Duy Quang from AMAXinvestment consultancy and valuation company are also on the stand.
Le Nam Tra, former Chairman of the Board at MobiFone, Cao Duy Hai, former Director General of MobiFone, and board member Phan Thi Hoa Mai, along with five Deputy General Directors of thecorporation – Pham Thi Phuong Anh, Ho Tuan, Nguyen Dang Nguyen, Nguyen Bao Longand Nguyen Manh Hung are also included in the list.
Meanwhile, Pham Nhat Vu, former chairman of AVG,has been charged with giving bribes under Clause 4, Article 364 of the 2015Criminal Code.
At the same time, Son, Tuan, Hai and Tra arecharged with receiving bribes under Clause 4, Article 354 of the 2015 CriminalCode.
According to the indictment of the SupremePeople’s Court, in 2015, the MIC-run MobiFone bought 95 percent of AVG for 8.9trillion VND (382.7 million VND), many times higher than the actual value ofthe struggling firm.
During the purchasing process, Son, Tuan, Traand Hai made use of their positions to speed up the deal without approval fromthe Prime Minister, despite knowing about the poor financial situation AVG wasin. The deal caused a loss of over 6.59 trillion VND (283.3 million USD) to theState.
Son received 3 million USD from AVG ChairmanVu while Tra, Hai and Tuan got 2.5 million USD, 500,000 USD and 200,000 USD,respectively, to accelerate the transaction.
According to the Supreme People’s Procuracy,the defendants had shown repentance and responsibility to deal with theconsequences of their deeds.
Tra and Hai returned all of the money they received,while Tuan gave back nearly 200,000 USD. Son suggested refunding part of themoney from his account at the Joint Stock Commercial Bankfor Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank).
The trial is scheduled to run until December31./.
VNA
