Hanoi (VNA) – The High-level People’s Court inHanoi on October 14 increased the penalty imposed on one of the four defendantscharged with “abusing position and power to appropriate assets” at theState-run Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin).

The defendants consist of Vinashin formerChairman of the Members’ Council Nguyen Ngoc Su, former Chief Accountant andformer head of the Financial Department Tran Duc Chinh, former General DirectorTruong Van Tuyen, and former Deputy General Director Pham Thanh Son.

At the appeal trial, the court accepted therequest made by the Hanoi People’s Procuracy, which demanded the punishment onNguyen Ngoc Su be increased. It decided to raise the prison sentence by 3 yearsto 16 years.

It also accepted the appeals lodged by TruongVan Tuyen and Tran Duc Chinh, reducing the respective prison terms for them to6 years and 15 years, down 1 year and 2 years from the initial verdict.

Meanwhile, it rejected the appeal by Pham ThanhSon and upheld the six-year imprisonment for him.

All the four were declared guilty of abusingposition and power while performing duties.

Judges said the conclusion issued at thefirst-instance trial in June was completely precise. Accordingly, the fourdefendants together agreed to transfer the money the Government provided forVinashin’s restructuring from checking accounts to fix-termed deposit accountsat the Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OceanBank) to profit from higherinterest and extra money that was not recorded in Vinashin’s papers to serveillegal spending and personal purposes.

At the time of their violation, Su, thenChairman of the Members’ Council of Vinashin, initiated the depositing anddirectly signed 12 deposit contracts. He also directed Truong Van Tuyen toauthorise Tran Duc Chinh to sign other contracts, deposit money, receive theextra money that excluded interest from OceanBank, and not record it in thefirm’s documents.

Su gained 8 billion VND (over 344,500 USD at thecurrent exchange rate) for himself and decided on the common spending among thefour.

Investigators found that from 2010 to June 2014,Vinashin made more than 2,300 fixed-term deposit contracts involving nearly 104trillion VND and some 181 million USD with OceanBank.

Chinh appropriated 10 billion VND, Tuyenpocketed 3.5 billion VND, while Son bagged 1.2 billion VND.

The appeal trial’s jury ruled that Su held themain role in the case and must bear the most responsibility for all the losses.Additionally, his inconsistent testimony during investigation also indicatedthat he showed no sign of repentance as he intended to ward off hisresponsibility and blame others for the wrongdoing although he was the businessleader.

Therefore, Su must face a stricter punishment,according to the jury.

At the trial, the jury also declared the moneythe four defendants have to pay back./.