Appeal court hears case of PVN’s bad Oceanbank investment

6/21/2018 - 3:34:33 PM

The High-Level Court in Hanoi has begun hearings for an appeal filed by Dinh La Thang, a former chairman of the state oil group PVN, concerning the company’s loss of VND800 billion (US$35.2 million) on investments in the struggling lender Oceanbank.

Dinh La Thang at the trial court

The appeal was also lodged by six other defendants, who asked the court to review their charges, sentences and civil responsibilities.

Earlier, Thang, a former Politburo member and Ho Chi Minh City secretary, had been sentenced to 18 years for deliberately violating state regulations on economic management, which led to serious consequences.

Thang was also ordered to provide compensation of VND600 billion, while other defendants received between 15 months of community sentence and 23 years in prison.

According to the indictment, although he was well-aware of Oceanbank’s weaknesses, Thang decided to invest a total of VND800 billion in the lender in violation of current regulations.

Due to its poor performance, Oceanbank was eventually acquired by the State Bank for zero Vietnamese dong, resulting in the loss of the entire VND800 billion investment.

In a separate case, the court upheld a 13-year sentence for Dinh La Thang for assigning PVC, a unit of PVN, to carry out the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package at the Thai Binh 2 power plant in violation of the law.

The appeal hearing, which began on June 19, is expected to last for seven days.

Source: NDO

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