Hanoi (VNA) - Procurators on October 28 proposed prison sentencesranging from three to 19 years for 12 defendants involved in violations at theBank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV).

The term of 18-19 years was recommended for DoanHong Dung, former director of the Trung Dung company, who has been accused ofabusing trust to appropriate property.

Also charged with the same count are Tran Anh Quang,former director of the Binh Ha company, Dinh Van Dung, former director generalof the Binh Ha company, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Son, former director of the Ha Namcompany, who face jail terms of 13-14 years, 12-13 years, and 5-6 years,respectively.

The procuracy also recommended that Tran Luc Lang and Doan Anh Sang, formerdeputy general directors of BIDV, serve 6-7 years in prison.

Kieu Dinh Hoa, former deputy director of BIDV’sHa Tinh Branch and Le Thi Van Anh, former customer service head of the branch, andNgo Duy Chinh, former director of BIDV’s Ha Thanh Branch, Nguyen Xuan Giap,former deputy director of the branch, Pham Hong Quang, former head of the customerservice division at the branch, and Dang Thanh Nam, an official in charge ofcustomer management at the branch, may serve jail terms of three to eightyears.

The procuracy also proposed the eight defendantswho were working in the banking sector be banned from engaging in creditactivities for 2-3 years.

The procuracy said the defendants in the case directly violatedthe bank’s legitimate operations, causing huge losses.

Tran Bac Ha, former chairman of BIDV, wasdetermined to be the mastermind behind the violations. He died in prison inJuly last year after a long illness.

According to the indictment, from 2011 to 2016, taking advantage of hisposition, Ha was involved in a number of wrong-doings, such as violatingdemocratic centralism principles and working regulations to pour money intocompanies that he himself had set up.

Specifically, he directed the establishment of two companies - the An Phu JointStock Company, which was owned by his son Tran Duy Tung, and the Binh HaLivestock Joint Stock Company. Ha also instructed and approved the granting ofcredit with incentives that went against regulations of the State Bank ofVietnam (SBV) and BIDV, despite the fact that the two companies did not have thefinancial capital to carry out the proposed project and were not eligible forcredit extensions as prescribed by the SBV and BIDV.

This resulted in losses of more than 1.5trillion VND (64.2 million USD) for BIDV.

The trial is expected to last for ten days./.