The Hanoi’s People’s Court handed down death sentences for former Vinalines chairman, Duong Chi Dung, and former CEO, Mai Van Phuc, at an appeals court this afternoon, May 7.
Duong Chi Dung (in white T-shirt) and Mai Van Phuc (in blue T-shirt, first row) at the court
In 2012, Dung and Phuc were accused of intentionally violating state regulations and embezzling state assets. They poured millions of USD into buying and repairing the obsolete floating dock No83M, which had been taken out of active service by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.
Dung and Phuc opposed the charges and have maintained their claims of innocence.
Evidence provided by Russian authorities shows that the owner of the dock cooperated with AP Company and Global Success Company to sell the dock at USD9 million even though it was worth only USD2.3 million. More than USD1.6 million was then transferred to Phu Ha Company, owned by a sister of the former general director of Vinalines. Duong Chi Dung and Mai Van Phuc were sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for violating state regulations in addition to the death sentence for embezzlement.
Lawyers defending the culprits pointed out that the investigative team has been unable to identify any other person or persons directly involved in the money transfers between Dung and his Russian counterparts. They claim that Dung should therefore not be accused of being the mastermind of such a large plot. They further argued that, if Dung and Phuc are to be hold responsible for their decision to buy the dock, all the members of the board of directors should also be held responsible.
However, the court upheld the verdicts, pointing out that only Dung and Phuc had executive authority to buy the dock. Moreover, evidence showed that they divided money between each other.The court asked to continue investigations into the Vietnam Register for failing to verify the dock’s age. The other eight accomplices, including three customs agents and one official from Vietnam Register received sentences of imprisonment.
Vinalines is a state-owned enterprise. Without asking the Ministry of Transport or the approval of the Prime Minister, the dock was bought when Vinalines decided to build a shipyard in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, despite the fact that the corporation had not received any land allocation for the project.
Dung still signed off on Mai Van Phuc’s plan, at a cost of over VND3.8 trillion. Not including land, Vinalines spent VND30 billion (USD1.4 million) repairing and guarding the dock as of April 2010. VND70 billion (USD3.4 million) was also spent to pay a bank loan for the purchase of the dock.
Dung attempted to flee the country before an investigation was launched. In court, he claimed that the deputy minister of Public Security, Pham Quy Ngo, had advised him to go into hiding. On February 18, Pham Quy Ngo died in hospital while being treated for cancer.
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