They were charged with “violating regulations on the management and use of public investment capital, causing serious consequences”, and “receiving bribes”.
The court declared that former Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son receives life imprisonment while his successor Truong Minh Tuan is jailed for 16 years for the two charges.
Former Chairman of the Mobifone Member Council Le Nam Tra and former Mobifone General Director Cao Duy Hai were given 23-year and 14-year imprisonment sentences, respectively, for both charges.
For nine defendants on charge of “violating regulations on the management and use of public investment capital, causing serious consequences”, the court pronounced that former head of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC)’s Department of Enterprise Management Pham Dinh Trong will stay behind bars for five years; Director of the AMAX investment consultancy and valuation company Vo Van Manh three years and six months; and appraiser Hoang Duy Quang three years.
Member of the Mobifone Member Council Phan Thi Hoa Mai and four Mobifone Deputy General Directors Pham Thi Phuong Anh, Ho Tuan, Nguyen Bao Long and Nguyen Manh Hung were sentenced to two years and six months in jail.
Mobifone Deputy General Director Nguyen Dang Nguyen faced a two-year jail sentence.
Former Chairman of the AVG Board of Directors Pham Nhat Vu was given a three-year imprisonment sentence for giving bribes.
According to the court, the case is extremely serious, causing a loss of over 6.6 trillion VND (286.9 million USD).
Families of Son, Tuan, Tra, Hai, Quang and AMAX company handed over about 138 billion VND to the State budget to make up for the loss. Banking accounts of Son, Tuan and Tra remain frozen.
The court also decided to cancel asset seizure order for the use of land and housing at two different addresses by Son, Tuan and their spouses.
According to the indictment, in 2015, the MIC-run MobiFone bought 95 percent of AVG with 8.9 trillion VND (382.7 million VND), many times higher than the real value of the struggling AVG at that time.
During the purchasing process, Son, Tuan, Tra and Hai made use of their positions to speed up the deal without the approval of the Prime Minister, despite their knowledge of the poor financial and business situation of AVG. The deal caused a loss of over 6.47 trillion VND (278.21 million USD) to the State.
Son also received 3 million USD from AVG Chairman Vu while Tra, Hai and Tuan got 2.5 million USD, 500,000 USD and 200,000 USD, respectively, to accelerate the transaction.
VNA/VNP
