HÀ NỘI – The People’s Court of Hà Nội on Wednesday sentenced Phan Văn Anh Vũ, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bắc Nam 79 Construction Company and former Chairman of the Nova Bắc Nam 79 Company, to 15 years in jail for “abusing position and power while performing duties”.

Vũ, born in 1975, is a former Senior Lieutenant Colonel and deputy head of a division at the General Department V of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

His accomplices, Nguyễn Hữu Bách (born 1963, former Colonel and deputy head of Department B61 under the General Department V) and Phan Hữu Tuấn (born 1955, former Lieutenant General and Deputy General Director of the General Department V), each received five years imprisonment for the same charge.

For the charge of “deliberately disclosing State secrets”, the total sentences given to Bách and Tuấn are 11 years and 12 years in prison, respectively. However, the total sentence for Vũ has yet to be announced. He was previously given eight years in jail by the High People’s Court in Hà Nội on October 31, 2018.

Meanwhile, two other accomplices of Vũ, Bùi Văn Thành (born 1959, former Lieutenant General and Deputy Minister of the MPS), and Trần Việt Tân (born 1955, former Senior Lieutenant General and Deputy Minister of the MPS), were sentenced to 30 months and 36 months in prison, respectively, for “showing irresponsibility, causing serious consequences".

According to the indictment of the procuracy, while operating Bắc Nam 79 Construction Company and Nova Bắc Nam 79 Company, Phan Văn Anh Vũ, under the name of the MPS, asked ministries, sectors, and local administrations to rent land to him as well as transfer to him the right to use land and property on land of public housing and land projects in prime positions in Đà Nẵng City and HCM City, against State regulations.

He then went on to make them his own properties or those of his relatives, transferred them, or put them under shared ownership with other people to earn illegal profits. Bách and Tuấn drafted, signed and submitted documents advising the General Department V to issue documents enabling Vũ to commit the violations.

Under the first instance judgment, Vũ, with the highest role in the case, has to bear responsibility for a loss of more than VNĐ135 billion (US$5.8 million) to the State. Bách and Tuấn caused total losses of VNĐ132 billion. Meanwhile, with their irresponsibility, Tân’s activities led to a loss of VNĐ36 billion, while losses caused by Thành are over VNĐ3.5 billion.

The court also proposed that the Investigation Police Agency continue clarifying the legacy of land allocation made by authorised agencies in HCM City and Đà Nẵng to uncover violations. — VNS