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.
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