Đinh La Thăng, former Minister of Transport is escorted to the first instance trial ob Monday. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vũ

HCM CITY — The People’s Court of HCM City on Monday opened the first-instance trial looking into bidding and accounting fraud in the HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway project, a major toll road in southern Việt Nam.

The case involves 20 defendants, including Đinh La Thăng, who served as Minister of Transport between August 2011 and February 2016, and Nguyễn Hồng Trường who was Deputy Minister of Transport from April 2007 to August 2017.

They are accused of causing VNĐ725 billion in losses to the State Budget.

Both Thăng and Trưởng are accused of “violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing waste and losses,” under Article 219 of the 2015 Penal Code.

Also prosecuted for the same charge are Nguyễn Chí Thanh, former deputy head of the Ministry of Transport’s Finance Department; Lê Trung Cường, a staff member of the Finance Department; and senior executives of the project’s investor Cửu Long Group – former Director-General Dương Tuấn Minh, former Deputy Director-General Dương Thị Trâm Anh and former head of the investment and bidding management department Nguyễn Thu Trang.

Đinh Ngọc Hệ, alias Út Trọc, former Deputy Director-General of Thái Sơn Corporation under the Ministry of National Defence, is charged with “fraud, appropriation of assets” and “abuse of position and power to influence others for personal gain".

The other 12 defendants are charged with “fraud, appropriation of assets”.

The trial is slated to end on December 25.

According to the indictment of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, the HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway project was funded by the State budget, so the toll collection rights belong to the State and the money earned from the sale of the rights belongs to the State. 

In his capacity as transport minister, Thang allegedly created conditions for Ngoc He’s company to win the bidding for the expressway toll collection although Thăng was aware the company was operating at a loss and had no financial capacity.

Ngoc Hệ is thought to have used falsified documents for the bidding, and after winning it, he continued to commit fraud to appropriate State assets.

Other defendants who were subordinates of Thăng are alleged to have violated regulations on bidding to let Hệ win the bidding. Their acts created conditions for Hệ to appropriate more than VNĐ725 billion (US$31.4 million).

The construction of the 62km-long HCM City-Trung Lương expressway started in 2004 and opened to traffic in February 2010.

Đinh La Thăng is already serving a jail sentence for corruption in another case. — VNS