Among the 22 defendants in the case, 12 were charged with “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences” under Clause 3 of Article 165 of the 1999 Penal Code. They included Dinh La Thang (former Chairman of the Member Council of PetroVietnam PVN), Phung Dinh Thuc (former General Director of PVN), two former Deputy General Directors of PVN – Nguyen Quoc Khanh and Nguyen Xuan Son, and two former Deputy General Directors of PVC, among others.
Eight others were accused of “misappropriating property” in accordance with Clause 4 of Article 278 of the 1999 Penal Code.
Trinh Xuan Thanh and Vu Duc Thuan (former PVC General Director) were charged with both “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences” and “misappropriating property.”
A total of 42 lawyers will defend the legitimate rights and interests for the defendants at the court.
According to the indictment of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, this is a particularly serious case drawing public concerns. Most of the defendants held key positions in important economic establishments and were entrusted by the State and people for management of State capital and implementation of national key projects, including the Thai Binh 2 thermal power plant.
However, during the process of implementing the projects, the defendants deliberately violated the State regulations on economic management, causing serious economic losses to the State. Some even abused their positions and power to withdraw money from projects for personal use. Such wrongdoings must be strictly handled according to law.
Specifically, while carrying out the Thai Binh 2 thermal power project, Dinh La Thang played the main role in giving direction and appointing PVC to implement the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, directing the PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PVPower) to sign the No.33 EPC contract with PVC against regulations. Afterwards, Thang directed his subordinates at PVN and the management board of the project to provide in advance 6,607,500 USD and over 1.3 trillion VND for PVC, allowing Trinh Xuan Thanh and his accomplices to use over 1.1 trillion VND for wrong purposes, causing loss of nearly 120 billion VND to the State.
Those acts of Thang constitute deliberate violations of State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences under Clause 3 of Article 165 of the 1999 Penal Code, the indictment said.
Regarding Trinh Xuan Thanh, the indictment said during the implementation of the Thai Binh 2 thermal power project, Thanh – as PVC Chairman - directed Vu Duc Thuan to sign the EPC No. 33 so that PVC could get advance payment of over 6.6 million USD and over 1.3 trillion VND (57.7 million USD).
Thanh decided to use more than 1.1 trillion VND (48.4 million USD) out of the advance to serve other purposes other than channeling the sum into the Thai Binh project, causing losses of 120 billion VND (5.3 million USD) to the State coffer.
Besides Thanh was the person who gave the idea and together with Thuan directed Nguyen Anh Minh, then PVC Deputy General Director, and Luong Van Hoa, then Director of PVC’s Vung Ang - Quang Trach Project Management Board, to compile false documents to withdraw more than 13 billion VND (578,000 USD) from the project and divide among them for personal use.
Of the money, Thanh got 4 billion VND (176,000 USD). He, together with Thuan, Minh and Bui Manh Hien, then Chief of the Office of PVC, also spent 1.5 trillion VND (66,000 USD) together.
The Supreme People’s Procuracy held that those acts of Thanh constitute the offences of “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences” and “misappropriating property.”
The trial is scheduled to last two weeks.
