The Supreme People’s Court on May 7 began the appeal trial of the case on “asset embezzlement” and “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences” at PetroVietnam Construction JSC (PVC), a subsidiary of the national oil and gas giant PetroVietnam (PVN).

At the appeal trial on May 7

Before the start of the appeal trial, Trinh Xuan Thanh, former chairman of PVC, withdrew his lodged appeal against the first-instance sentence handed down by the Hanoi People’s Court.

Under the first instance sentence, Thanh was given life imprisonment on the charge of asset embezzlement and 14 years for “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences”. The combined penalty for both counts is life imprisonment.

Thanh also asked for permission to be absent at the appeal trial due to health reasons. Therefore, the court will not consider Thanh’s case at the appeal trial. 

As a result, the appeal trial will look at the appeals of 14 out of 22 defendants in the PVC case. Among them, Dinh La Thang, former chairman of the PVN, and Phung Dinh Thuc, former Director General of PVN, claimed they are innocent. Thang was given 13 years in jail and Thuc nine years on the charge of “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences”.

Other appellants asked for reduced sentences and the amount of damages that they were ordered to pay in the case under the Hanoi People’s Court’s first instance verdict.

The first instance trial on the case, which drew public concern and was under the supervision of the central steering committee for anti-corruption, was held in Hanoi from January 8-22 this year.-VNA