The Party’s top graft-buster agency has decided to launch court action against six high-profile graft cases involving major State-owned enterprises between late this year and the first quarter of next year.


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The decision came at a meeting in Hanoi last Saturday of the executive board of the Steering Committee for Anti-corruption, which was presided over by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The executive board praised central-level law enforcement agencies, the Party Central Committee’s Internal Affairs Commission, and HCMC’s prosecution and court for close coordination in bringing to court Pham Cong Danh, former chairman of Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB), and his accomplices, said Party chief Trong.

The HCMC People’s Court last month handed down a 30-year jail term on Pham Cong Danh for his credit and financial violations that caused losses of over VND9 trillion (US$404 million) at the lender. 

Phan Thanh Mai, former general director of VNCB, was sentenced to 22 years behind bars, according to the lower-court verdict issued after nearly two months of hearing. 

Over 30 accomplices got prison terms of three to 20 years while eight others received suspended sentences. 

Trong noted the court also decided to file criminal charges against three related cases, and confiscate VND6.58 trillion implicated in the Pham Cong Danh case.

He underscored the need to put to court a number of big corruption cases that have caused serious economic losses and attracted much public attention. 

The executive board of the Steering Committee for Anti-corruption agreed court hearings of six major graft cases would be carried out from late this year to the first quarter of 2017, he said.

These cases involve Agribank Printing, Trade and Service Co. (graft), Vietnam Waterway Construction Corporation (graft and bribery), Que Vo Textile Co. and Bac Ninh Development Assistance Fund (graft and fraud), Vinashin Lines (graft and money laundering), Dien Bien Phu transaction office of the HCMC branch of Vietnam Industry and Trade Bank (VietinBank) (graft and loan sharking), and Ocean Bank ( graft and violations of lending rules).

SGT