Vietnam sentences six to die over graft scam
HANOI - A court
in southern Vietnam sentenced six
people to death and six more to life
in prison on Wednesday for their
involvement in the country's biggest
corruption scandal, witnesses said.
The presiding judges said before
sentencing the total of 77 defendants
in the case, which revolved around
two firms called Minh Phung and
EPCO and caused losses of $280
million, that they wanted to make
clear graft would not be tolerated.
But diplomats said it would take
more than one trial to convince a
jaded public that the
communist-ruled government was
serious about dealing with endemic
corruption.
Dozens of relatives who had
gathered inside the grounds of the
Ho Chi Minh City People's Court to
hear the verdicts broadcast via
loudspeakers wailed after the death
sentences were read out, the
witnesses said.
Police imposed tight security around
the building, but prison trucks
ferrying the black and white-garbed
defendants off to jail after the
verdicts struggled to get past
thousands of onlookers inside and
outside the court gates, they said.
``This is a serious case and caused
serious consequences. Those
involved should be punished harshly
to serve as a warning to others,'' one
of the judges said over the
loudspeaker.
Foreign media were refused
permission to cover the trial
proceedings, or enter the courtyard
gates.
Prosecutors had sought six death
sentences and life terms for eight
defendants in a case which involved
shady credit deals to shore up
business transactions during the
mid-1990s.
The scam caused losses of $280
million that were mainly borne by
local banks on loans used for land
speculation, and stunned a nation
where annual per capita income is
only $300.
Minh Phung group, with interests
from textiles to property, was a
shining star in Vietnam's nascent
private sector. EPCO was once a
partially state-owned trading firm.
The operations of both firms have
largely been curtailed.
Witnesses said those sentenced to
death were Tang Minh Phung, head
of the Minh Phung company and
Lien Khui Thin, head of EPCO.
Other defendants condemned to
death were banking executives Pham
Nhat Hong and Nguyen Ngoc Bich,
along with Nguyen Tuan Phuc, an
executive from EPCO, and Nguyen
Xuan Phong, a senior official from a
local state company.
Apart from those six jailed for life,
other defendants received a range of
terms, while a dozen got suspended
sentences and several were freed
because their sentences were less
than time already served in detention.
Prosecutors had charged executives
from Minh Phung and EPCO along
with 18 bankers and numerous
government officials with offences
ranging from fraud to stealing state
assets.
One man sentenced to life in jail was
Le Minh Xu, a former official from a
police export-import firm in Ho Chi
Minh City.
Xu has already been sentenced to life
in jail for his involvement in the
country's biggest smuggling case,
which saw goods worth $71.3
million brought illegally into Vietnam.
That verdict was handed down last
April.
Those sentenced on Wednesday are
entitled to appeal the verdicts,
although Vietnamese higher courts
generally uphold decisions made in
big graft and smuggling trials.
Reuters - August 04, 1999.
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