~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

[Year 1997]
[Year 1998]
[Year 1999]
[Year 2000]
[Year 2001]

Vietnam court upholds graft death sentences

HANOI - A court in southern Vietnam has upheld death sentences for three businessmen and a banker found guilty of involvement in the country's biggest graft scandal, official media reported on Thursday. Most newspapers carried reports on the decision by the Court of Appeal in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, which reduced death sentences on two other men to life imprisonment.

A total of 77 people were sentenced last August over the graft scandal, which revolved around shady business transactions at two firms, called Minh Phung and EPCO, that caused losses of $280 million. Those losses were mainly borne by state-run banks on loans used for land speculation in the mid-1990s. Court officials were not available to comment. The Communist Party daily Nhan Dan (People) said death sentences had been upheld on Tang Minh Phung and Lien Khui Thin, the former heads of the Minh Phung and EPCO, respectively.

Death sentences were also upheld on former banker Pham Nhat Hong and EPCO executive Nguyen Tuan Phuc. Former banker Nguyen Ngoc Bich and state company boss Nguyen Xuan Phong had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Those found guilty had been charged with crimes such as colluding to appropriate state money for land speculation. The Minh Phung group, with interests ranging 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 at both firms have largely been curtailed. Graft and fraud have emerged as major problems in communist Vietnam in recent years.

Reuters - January 12, 2000.