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Vinashin ex-officials ask court to lower sentences, damages

Vinashin ex-officials ask court to lower sentences, damages

Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 11:52 GMT+7

At an appeal hearing that opened yesterday, eight defendants involved in the high-profile scandal at Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin) petitioned the Supreme People’s Court to mitigate their sentences and reduce the damages they have to pay.

>> Vinashin ex-officials in appeal trial over economic scandal>> Vinashin ex-official, currently in prison, indicted in another crime>> Vinashin executives appeal jail terms: judge>> Former Vinashin chairman gets 20 years in jail>> Vinashin’s executive and 8 accomplices prosecuted The hearing was opened to consider the appeals of eight out of the nine defendants who had been sentenced by the Hai Phong city People’s Court in March for “intentionally violating the State’s economic management regulations, which causes serious consequences”. It has been determined that they caused a total loss to the national budget of VND910 billion (US$43.5 million).

At the March trial, the court forced the nine defendants to pay VND1,900 billion (US$91.1 million) as damages to the national budget, of which VND650.9 billion must be paid by Pham Thanh Binh, 59, Vinashin’s former chairman, and VND603.6 billion by Tran Van Liem, former head of Vinashin's Supervisory Committee and former general director of Vien Duong Company, while the rest is liable to be paid by the other defendants.

At the ongoing hearing, most of the defendants asked the Supreme People’s Court to re-consider the evaluation of the damage and lower their sentences. According to the indictment, one of Vinashin’s projects which caused some of the largest losses to the national budget was the purchase of Hoa Sen ship – a second hand vessel – for VND1,400 billion, a transaction that eventually cost the company more than VND650 billion. This project was developed by the giant shipbuilding group without prior approval from the Prime Minister and was not in accordance with the PM’s directive on building seagoing ships for North-South passenger transportation. Questioned by the court about this issue Binh, who was sentenced to 20 year in prison on March 30, admitted that he had incorrectly implemented the government’s direction on investment since he had misunderstood the policy, and he took responsibility for his wrongdoings.

3Pham Thanh Binh being questioned by the jury (Photo: Nguoi Lao Dong)

“I have not complied with relevant regulations, but it was only because of the circumstances at that time. It is not true that I deliberately did so despite laws,” Binh said. Asked why he decided to purchase the old ship without organizing a competitive bid, Binh said, “It is wrong not to launch a bid, but I had to decide on the purchase soon since if a time-consuming bid had been opened, we would have missed the chance to buy the ship, which was a type that is difficult to find.” Binh blamed the loss from the purchase and use of the Hoa Sen on “objective causes”, including an economic crisis during which fuel prices soared, leading to a suspension of use of the ship.

He also disagreed on the calculation by investigators of damage from the ship project. He said it was not correct to say the damage was the difference between the total investment of the project (VND1,400 billion) and the residual value of the ship when it was no longer used.

He explained that about VND1,200 billion of the total investment had been used on purchasing the ship, while the remainder had been spent on two wharves.

Meanwhile, Liem said, “I was forced. I had been aware that such implementation was wrong, but I had no other option. I had to do it according to the group’s duty assigned to me or I would have been disciplined.”

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 Defendants at the appeal hearing that started on August 28, 2012 (Photo: CAND Online)

Liem also said he “did not act against the Government’s direction”, since he had not known about the Government’s policy not to buy old ships like the Hoa Sen. Asked by the court how he had known about the ship before it was bought, Liem simply said, “I learned about it through materials and images I had found on the Internet.”

Meanwhile, the other defendants asked the court to mitigate their sentences and reduce the damages they have to pay, explaining that they had only carried out what they had been ordered to by Binh.

One of them was Hoang Gia Hiep, 40, former deputy general director of Vinashin Finance One-member Co. Ltd and former director of Shipping Industry Finance Leasing Company, who said his 13-year sentence was too heavy.

Trinh Thi Hau, 48, another former deputy general director of Vinashin Finance One-member Co. Ltd, rejected all of the allegations levied against her and asserted that she had not committed the offense of “intentionally violating the State’s economic management regulations, which causes serious consequences”.

The hearing continues today and is expected to end on Thursday.

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