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The Vietnam News

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Vietnamese businessman's death sentence commuted to life imprisonment

HANOI -- An appeal court in Vietnam has commuted the death sentence handed down on a local businessman, found guilty of fraud earlier this year, to life imprisonment, state media said Friday. The reduction was decided by the Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday after a five-day trial, the ***Quan Doi Nhan Dan*** newspaper said.

Nguyen Ton Van, former director of Quoc Binh private enterprise, a trading company, was sentenced to death in Ho Chi Minh City on March 28 this year for "defrauding and appropriating public property". Van and his accomplices were found guilty of failing to repay more than six million dollars borrowed from two banks in the southern business capital.

Two of Van's codefendants, Tran Van Phuoc and Phung Duc, were jailed for life while a dozen others were handed sentences of between two and 20 years.

Tehran Times - September 7, 2003.