The People’s Procuracies of An Giang and Long An Provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region have decided to pay nearly US$116,000 in compensation to a Vietnamese American who had been wrongly arrested twice.

The 68-year-old Vietnamese American, Lam Hong Son, went to the headquarters of the People’s Procuracy of Long An Province to receive two compensation settlement decisions from the People’s Procuracies of the two provinces on Tuesday.

According to the decisions, Son is entitled to receive compensation totaling more than VND209 million ($8,209) from the People’s Procuracy of Long An and upwards of VND2.73 billion ($107,237) from the People’s Procuracy of An Giang. 

This compensation covers mental damages, lost income during Son’s wrongful arrest, and various expenses including travel costs.

In 1989, Son collaborated with the People’s Police Command of An Giang to establish the Chau Doc Animal Food Processing Enterprise and was appointed as its director. 

However, in 1990 and 1991, he was twice prosecuted and detained on charges of fraudulent appropriation of socialist property and abuse of trust to appropriate socialist property.

Since his release, Son has been on a journey to clear his name. 

On May 28, the People’s Procuracies of An Giang and Long An exonerated him from all the charges and publicly apologized to him. 

They acknowledged that the wrongful accusations against Son were due to errors made by agencies and participants in the past proceedings.

According to a leader at the People’s Procuracy of Long An, Son has 15 days from Tuesday to lodge a complaint if he disagrees with the two compensation settlement decisions. 

If he accepts the decisions, the procuracies will proceed with preparing the budget for payment.

Son expressed complete agreement with the compensation amount and is expecting to receive the money soon.

“The injustice is temporarily addressed, yet I am persisting with another civil lawsuit against the Public Security Department of An Giang Province,” Son said. 

“I’m seeking the return of my investment in the company at that time, along with damages resulting from breached contracts and failed exports. 

“The total amount I am claiming approaches $4 million. 

“The People’s Court of An Giang Province has been handling this case for almost four years.”

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