Dinh La Thang was led to the court. (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Hanoi People’s Court onMarch 19 opened a trial for Dinh La Thang, former Chairman of the MemberCouncil of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), and sixaccomplices for their wrongdoings in investing PetroVietnam’s capital in Ocean Bank.
The six other defendants are former officials of PetroVietnam, comprisingformer Deputy General Director Nguyen Xuan Son; former chief accountant andformer head of the department of finance, accounting and auditing Ninh VanQuynh; along with four former members of the Member Council, namely Vu KhanhTruong, Nguyen Xuan Thang, Nguyen Thanh Liem, and Phan Dinh Duc.
All the seven were charged with “deliberately violating State regulations oneconomic management causing serious consequences.” Ninh Van Quynh alone faced theadditional charge of “abusing power to misappropriate State assets.” Their actscaused losses of 800 billion VND (35.2 million USD) to PetroVietnam and itsshareholders.
The judge panel of the court comprises five members. A total of 23 lawyers haveregistered to defend legitimate rights and interests of the defendants andothers involving in the case, including five lawyers of Dinh La Thang.
The Hanoi People’s Court has summoned many individuals and organisationsconcerned, including representatives of the Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank(Ocean Bank) and PetroVietnam.
Ha Van Tham, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ocean Bank, is subpoenaedas a witness. Meanwhile, Nguyen Ngoc Su, former Deputy General Director ofPetroVietnam, and Phung Dinh Thuc, former General Director of PetroVietnam, arepresent at the court as people having interests and obligations related to thecase.
[Infographics: Trial on wrongdoings in PetroVietꦫnam’s investment in OceanBank]
According to the indictment, after PetroVietnam failed to establish the HongViet Commercial Joint Stock Bank, Dinh La Thang, who was Chairman of the MemberCouncil of PetroVietnam, instructed Nguyen Xuan Son and Nguyen Ngoc Su to haveworking sessions with a number of credit organisations on investmentcontribution, including Ocean Bank.
In September 2008, Nguyen Xuan Son and Ha Van Tham agreed to turn PetroVietnaminto OceanBank’s strategic shareholder.
Accordingly, from October 1, 2008 to May 16, 2011, PetroVietnam contributed atotal of 800 billion VND to OceanBank for three times to maintain its 20percent of capital in the bank.
The Law on Credit Institutions, which came into force on January 1, 2011,stipulates that an institutional shareholder may not own more than 15 percentof the charter capital of a credit institution.
Meanwhile, Dinh La Thang took no actions to withdraw PetroVietnam’s money inOcean Bank to ensure the rate, but continued to sign a decision appointing anotherperson as a representative of the 20 percent stake.
His violations enabled Nguyen Xuan Thang, Nguyen Thanh Liem, Vu Khanh Truong,Nguyen Xuan Son and Ninh Van Quynh to continue with illegal capitalcontributions of 100 billion VND (4.4 million USD) to Ocean Bank.
As a result, PetroVietnam lost 800billion VND after Ocean Bank fell into the red and was acquired by the StateBank of Vietnam (SBV) at zero VND.-VNA
VNA
