On May 12, the High-level People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City issued an appeal verdict on defendants Mai Thi Hong Hanh (former Director of Xuyen Viet Oil Company), Le Duc Tho (former Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee) and accomplices in the major case of violations in the Xuyen Viet Oil case.
Accordingly, defendant Le Duc Tho was reduced from 28 years to 21 years in prison for the two crimes of "Receiving bribes" and "Abusing position and power to influence for personal gain". Defendant Hanh also had his sentence reduced from 30 years to 28 years in prison, of which 17 years were for the crime of "Violating regulations on management and use of state assets causing loss and waste" and 11 years for the crime of "Giving bribes".
Defendant Nguyen Thi Nhu Phuong (former deputy director of Xuyen Viet Oil) 5 years in prison.
Many other former officials have also had their sentences reduced, including Tran Duy Dong and Hoang Anh Tuan (former leaders of the Domestic Market Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade) each with 5 years in prison; Le Duy Minh (former Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department) with 4 years and 6 months in prison. In particular, Nguyen Loc An (former Deputy Director of the Department) was sentenced to 4 years in prison for his active role in "paving the way" for violations.
According to the verdict, since 2016, defendant Hanh knew that Xuyen Viet Oil Company was not qualified to do petroleum business, so he sought to bribe many officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to be granted and extended the license. In total, Hanh has spent more than 31 billion VND on 8 cadres, including Deputy Minister-level leaders.
In addition, defendant Hanh directed the preparation of a fake report, appropriated VND 219 billion from the Petroleum Price Stabilization Fund and misused VND 1,244 billion in environmental protection tax - the amount that should have been paid to the budget.
Former Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee Le Duc Tho was also determined to have received a total bribe of 600,000 USD twice and was "ored" with many assets with a total value of more than 33 billion VND from defendant Hanh to facilitate Xuyen Viet Oil's loans at the bank.
At the appellate trial, the Trial panel said that the acts of the defendants caused a particularly serious loss of the budget, affecting energy security and reducing confidence in the public apparatus. However, at the appellate trial, many defendants voluntarily overcome the consequences and submit the illicit profits, so they were considered to mitigate the penalty.
