27th December, 2017
Vietnamese Authorities have set the trial date for 22 oil executives charged with economic mismanagement and corruption, the communist party newspaper, Nhan Dan, reported on Wednesday.
Among them is a high-profile politician and a manager allegedly kidnapped by Vietnamese security forces in Berlin.
The two-week trial of Dinh La Thang, Trinh Xuan Thanh and 20 oil executives would begin on Jan. 8, and is scheduled to take place for two weeks.
Thang, former politburo member of Vietnam’s communist party and former party chief of Ho Chi Minh City, has been charged with “deliberately violating state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences.’’
Chairman of state oil company PetroVietnam (PVN), the People’s Procuracy of Vietnam, said in a statement.
According to the charges, Thang broke the law by awarding a power plant contract to PetroVietnam Construction (PVC), a subsidiary of PetroVietnam, without bidding.
Also on trial is Trinh Xuan Thanh, PVC’s former chairman who fled Vietnam to Germany in 2016 to evade criminal charges.
He was allegedly kidnapped by Vietnamese security forces in Berlin in July and now faces the same charges as Thang, as well as being charged with property embezzlement.
According to the indictment, Thanh ordered PVC’s chief executive to advance nearly 66 million dollars from PVN for construction but then used most of the money for other PVC purposes.
The scheme caused the government to lose 5.4 million dollars.
The men also allegedly used a fake document to procure 180,000 dollars for Thanh.
Thang faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty, while Thanh could face the death penalty.