Court looks into “property embezzlement” charges in PVC case
The court on January 9 afternoon looked into the charges of “property embezzlement” facing Trinh Xuan Thanh, former Chairman of PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC), and his accomplices during the implementation of the Vung Ang 1 and Quang Trach 1 thermal power projects.
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The money was transferred through Bui Manh Hien (then Chief of the PVC Office), who controlled the expenditure under the instruction of Thanh and Thuan, or was sent to Minh.
From September 28, 2011 to February 23, 2012, Hoa and his subordinates prepared design, estimate, construction, assessment and payment dossiers for four auxiliary works of the project. The dossiers were then sent to Minh, who requested PVC departments to legalise ratification procedures.
Afterwards, Luong Van Hoa colluded with Le Thi Anh Hoa and Nguyen Thanh Quynh (then Director and Chief Accountant of Quynh Hoa One-Member Co. Ltd.) to draw up and sign four false contracts under which the management board hired the Quynh Hoa Company to implement three auxiliary works of the Vung Ang 1 thermal power project and one auxiliary work of the Quang Trach 1 thermal power project, aiming to withdraw more than 13 billion VND (572,000) USD from the board.
In this act, Thanh was said to be the mastermind. He, together with Thuan, instructed Minh and Hoa to make false dossiers to withdraw the money from the board for personal use.
Of the sum, Thanh pocketed 4 billion VND (176,000 USD); Thuan, 800 million VND (35,200 USD); Minh, 3.6 billion VND (158,400 USD) and Hien, 400 million VND (17,600 USD), respectively.
Besides, Thanh, Thuan, Minh and Hien must bear responsibility for the misuse of 1.5 billion VND (66,000 USD).
At the trial, except Thanh, all the concerned defendants admitted their wrongdoings and refunded the money they had received.
Thanh denied his plan on drawing up the false documents to appropriate more than 13 billion VND from the Vung Ang – Quang Trach Project Management Board for personal use.
Thanh also refuted his embezzlement of 4 billion VND, as well as 1.5 billion VND which was jointly spent by Thanh, Thuan, Minh and Hien.
Questioned why he asked his family to compensate the board 4 billion VND, Thanh said he should take responsibility for the incident at the PVC, so he paid the compensation voluntarily.
The trial also made it clear wrongdoings in the sending and reception of documents relating to Vu Hong Chuong (then head of PetroVietnam's management board for the Thai Binh 2 thermal power project) and Phung Dinh Thuc (then PetroVietnam General Director), Nguyen Quoc Khanh (then PetroVietnam Deputy General Director).
During the questioning session, Dinh La Thang, former Chairman of the Member Council of PetroVietnam, admitted his hasty instructions, resulting in the wrongdoings.
He, however, still affirmed that the PVC has sufficient capacity to become the main contractor of the Thai Binh 2 thermal power project despite the slow progress.
Besides, the PVC was in charge of only construction works of the project while foreign contractors will install machines and equipment, he added.
Regarding the EPC contract No. 33 of the Thai Binh 2 thermal power project, Thang said he did not receive any report on the lack of documents of the contract.
The court, which opened on January 8, is scheduled to last for two weeks.-
