After seven days of hearing, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced the ex-CEO of Vietnam Food Industries Joint Stock Company (Vifon) to 22 years in jail in a serious corruption case involving five defendants.

>> Vifon ex-leader faces up to 21 years in corruption case

Nguyen Bi, 64, the former general director of Vifon, received his sentence on Wednesday. The penalty is heavier than that previously proposed by the prosecutor’s office: 19-21 years.

Bi was charged with abusing trusts to appropriate assets and intentionally violating the State’s economic management regulations and causing serious consequences.

The court also handed a 30-year sentence to Nguyen Thanh Huyen, 58, the former deputy general director of Vifon, for embezzlement and abusing trust to appropriate assets.

As for the other three defendants, the court gave sentences of 7 to 8 years in prison.

According to the indictment, from 2002 to 2006, Bi and Huyen directed their subordinates to make false payment bills to appropriate a total of VND18.2 billion (US$858,000). 

The court ordered Huyen to repay VND9.8 billion to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and VND1.3 billion to Vifon.

Meanwhile, Bi was ordered to pay VND2.283 billion to Vifon.

The case is the second of the six most serious corruption cases scheduled to be tried beginning in November.

In the first case, on November 15, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court gave the death penalty to two former company leaders who were among the 11 defendants in a serious corruption case that caused a total loss of over US$25 million of the State budget.

The case occurred at the Agribank Financial Leasing Company II (ALC II), under the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) in 2008-2009.