Six serious corruption cases will be put to trial beginning November 2013, three of which will be tried in Hanoi and the others in Ho Chi Minh City, said Nguyen Hoa Binh, head of the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

>> Kien, accomplices mess up monetary market: police >> Ex-official Duong Chi Dung extradited to Hanoi The three cases that will be heard in Hanoi are: a case involving Duong Chi Dung of Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines); a case involving Dung’s brother, Duong Tu Trong, who helped Dung flee abroad; and a case involving the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB). In HCMC, the cases to be heard are: the case of Vietnam Food Industries Joint Stock Company (Vifon)’s former leaders acting against State’s regulations; a case involving the Agribank Financial Leasing Company II; and a scamming case involving Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu. Below are brief summaries of those six cases. The Vinalines case involves “embezzlement and the intentional violation of State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences.” Ten defendants will be tried, including Duong Chi Dung, former chairman of Vinalines and former head of the Vietnam Maritime Administration; Mai Van Phuc, former head of the Transport Ministry’s Transport Bureau and former Vinalines general director; and Tran Huu Chien, deputy general ditector of Vinalines. These defendants violated applicable regulations and acts against the Prime Minister by purchasing a used floating dock from abroad at a high price, causing a loss of VND366 billion. They also embezzled a total of US$1.66 million. In the case titled “Helping Duong Chi Dung to flee abroad”, seven defendants will be heard. The most prominent among them is Duong Tu Trong, former director of Hai Phong City Police and former deputy head of the Ministry of Public Security’s Social Order Administrative Management Department, who arranged for his brother Dung to flee to Cambodia upon learning that Dung would be arrested in Vietnam. The Supreme People’s Procuracy are finalizing an indictment for the case with ACB that involves “swindling to appropriate assets, tax evasion and illegal trading, intentionally violating State’s economic management regulations and causing serious consequences.”

The most notable of the eight defendants in the case are Nguyen Duc Kien, former deputy chairmen of both the Management Board and the Founding Board of the bank, and Tran Xuan Gia, former chairman of the Management Board. Illegal acts of these defendants caused a total loss of VND2.5 trillion (US$118 million). Kien alone caused a loss of VND433 billion and evaded hundreds of millions of tax dollars.  The case involving the Agribank Financial Leasing Company No.2 caused a loss of VND532 billion belonging to the State, of which Vu Quoc Hao, general director of the company, embezzled VND79.9 billion. Hao and 10 other defendants have been indicted in the case for “abusing power on active service, intentionally violating State’s economic management regulations, causing serious consequences, and embezzlement”. Another serious case involves scams conducted by Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, a businesswoman who appropriated nearly VND4.9 trillion. From March to September 20122, Nhu had stamps of some banks and companies forged and then used these fake seals along with false documents to make false deals and contracts, through which she and her accomplices appropriated money from banks, organizations, and individuals.  Nhu allegedly pocketed nearly VND4 trillion. Twenty- three defendants will be tried in this case. The case involving Vifon caused a loss of VND16.4 billion to the State and another loss of VND3.6 billion to shareholders of Vifon. Five defendants have been indicted in the case, including Nguyen Bi, former chairman of the management Board and General director, and Nguyen Thanh Huyen, former deputy general director in the 2002-2006 period.