PVC trial: Life imprisonment proposed for Trinh Xuan Thanh

In addition, 13 to 14 years of imprisonment was sought for Thanh on the count of “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences”. The combined penalty for both charges is life imprisonment.

A sentence of 8- to 9-year imprisonment was proposed for Vu Duc Thuan (former Director General of PVC) on the charge of “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences” and 18- to 19-year imprisonment for “asset embezzlement”, with the combined prison term for both charges is between 26 and 28 years in prison.

For the 12 defendants charged with “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences”, the procuracy demanded prison terms of 14  to 15 years for Dinh La Thang (former Chairman of the Member Council of PVN); 12 to 13 years for Phung Dinh Thuc (former PVN General Director); and 10 to 11 years for Nguyen Quoc Khanh (former PVN Deputy General Director), Nguyen Xuan Son (former PVN Deputy General Director), and Ninh Van Quynh (former chief accountant and head of the department of finance, accounting and auditing of PVN).

Prison terms ranging from 2 to 9 years in prison were proposed for the other defendants in the group. 

For the defendants accused of “asset embezzlement”, the procuracy called for prison terms of 18 to 19 years for Nguyen Anh Minh (former Deputy Director General of PVC), 13 to 14 years for Bui Manh Hien (former Chief of the PVC Office) and Luong Van Hoa (former Director of PVC’s Vung Ang-Quang Trach Project Steering Board), and 8 to 9 years for Nguyen Thanh Quynh (former Director for Technique and Technology at Mien Trung Corporation – Da Nang Joint Stock Company).

A 30- to 36-month suspended imprisonment with five years’ probation was proposed for four other defendants. 

The procuracy also asked the judging council to ban Dinh La Thang, Phung Dinh Thuc, Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Nguyen Xuan Son, Ninh Van Quynh, Le Dinh Mau, Vu Hong Chuong, Tran Van Nguyen, Nguyen Ngoc Quy, Nguyen Manh Tien, Pham Tien Dat, Trinh Xuan Thanh, Vu Duc Thuan, Nguyen Anh Minh, Bui Manh Hien, and Luong Van Hoa from holding positions relating to corporate and finance management in State economic organisations for 4-5 years after serving their terms.  

The procuracy sought to make Dinh La Thang, Trinh Xuan Thanh, Phung Dinh Thuc, Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Nguyen Xuan Son, Vu Duc Thuan, Ninh Van Quynh, Le Dinh Mau, Nguyen Ngoc Quy, Nguyen Manh Tien, and Pham Tien Dat to pay more than VND119.8 billion in compensation to the State, which is represented by PetroVietnam.

The procuracy confirmed that Nguyen Quoc Khanh had voluntarily paid back VND2 billion, and asked the court to return the money to PVN. 

The court was also asked to give back to PVC the money that Trinh Xuan Thanh, Nguyen Anh Minh, Vu Duc Thuan, Luong Van Hoa, Bui Manh Hien, Nguyen Thanh Quynh, Le Thi Anh Hoa, and Nguyen Duc Hung had voluntarily paid to settle consequences.

The procuracy sought to have Trinh Xuan Thanh, Vu Duc Thuan, Nguyen Anh Minh and Bui Manh Hien to pay VND1.5 billion in compensation to PVC, Trinh Xuan Thanh to pay PVC the remaining VND2 billion out of the money that he had misappropriated, and Nguyen Anh Minh to pay PVC the remaining VND88.24 million.

It proposed the continuation of seizing some assets of Trinh Xuan Thanh and his family members by the Ministry of Public Security’s investigation security agency.