Dinh La Thang appeal trial to being on June 19

Dinh La Thang and other defendants at the first instance court in March

The Hanoi Supreme People’s Court scheduled the appeal trial of the case of “deliberately acting against state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences” related to the VND800 billion ($35.2 million) capital contribution of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) to OceanBank, which was entirely lost after the bank was acquired for VND0.

The Hanoi People’s Court opened the first instance of this case in March. Seven defendants appealed against the first verdict, including:

• Dinh La Thang, former chairman of PetroVietnam;
• Nguyen Xuan Son, former deputy general director of PetroVietnam;
• Vu Khanh Truong, former member of PetroVietnam’s board of directors;
• Nguyen Thanh Liem, former member of PetroVietnam’s board of directors;
• Phan Dinh Duc, former member of PetroVietnam’s board of directors;
• Nguyen Xuan Thang, former member of PetroVietnam’s board of directors;
• Ninh Van Quynh, former chief accountant of PetroVietnam.

Dinh La Thang appealed against the entire first instance verdict and requested the court to reconsidered the charges, penalties, and civil liability. He was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment and was obligated to repay VND600 billion ($26.5 million).

Nguyen Xuan Son requested exemption from the civil liability of returning VND15 billion ($0.66 million). He claimed that Ninh Van Quynh should be held responsible for the VND180 billion ($7.9 million) that Son claims to have transferred to him, while Quynh stated that he only received VND20 billion ($0.88 million).

The other defendants also requested reduced the penalties and exemption from civil liability.

Earlier, the first instance verdict sentenced Vu Khanh Truong to five years in prison, Nguyen Xuan Son to 30 months in prison, Nguyen Xuan Thang to 22 months in prison, Nguyen Thanh Liem to 20 months of suspended imprisonment, and Phan Dinh Duc to 15 months of suspended imprisonment.

Particularly, Ninh Van Quynh was sentenced to 23 years of imprisonment and was ordered to pay a compensation of VND100 billion ($4.4 million) to PetroVietnam.

Defendant Vu Khanh Truong has to pay back VND40 billion ($1.76 million), while other defendants have to return VND15 billion ($0.66 million) each.