Chu Thị Thành (front row, right) and her co-defendants stand trial on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The chairwoman of the fuel trader Thiên Minh Đức Group went on trial on Monday, accused of fraudulently obtaining nearly VNĐ80 billion (US$3.1 million) from the company’s fuel price stabilisation fund.

Chu Thị Thành, charged with embezzlement and illegal invoice trading, is being tried at the Hà Nội People’s Court alongside 22 co-defendants, including eleven of the company's executives and staff.

Between 2020 and 2022, Thành directed chief accountant Nguyễn Thị Bích Liên, deputy general director Lê Thanh An and accountant Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hải to help her siphon off the money, according to the indictment drawn up by the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

Liên and An, along with treasurer Lê Thị Ngọc Lan, also issued 153 fake value-added tax invoices for fuel sales on Thành’s instructions, generating more than VNĐ20 billion ($775,000) in illicit profits, the indictment said.

The scheme centred on two fuel depots, Nghi Thiết and Hoàng Huy, where staff sold fuel without issuing invoices and later produced fictitious ones to make the inventory books balance, prosecutors said. 

At Nghi Thiết, head of sales Chu Đức Mạnh and two colleagues issued 105 such invoices, netting Thanh VNĐ6.2 billion ($240,000). At Hoàng Huy, deputy general director Mai Anh Tuyên and three other staff members issued 48, netting her VNĐ14.3 billion ($554,000).

Mạnh and Tuyên knew the off-the-books sales and fake invoices were a way of diverting money from the stabilisation fund, yet still helped Thành and her accomplices take more than VNĐ67 billion, according to the indictment.

The procuracy said that in handling the case it had found loopholes in some regulations and gaps in state oversight of how fuel wholesalers pay into and draw from their price stabilisation funds, which are meant to help regulate domestic fuel prices.

Those weaknesses enabled the alleged crimes at Thiên Minh Đức, it said, adding that it would recommend the relevant agencies change how the funds are monitored to prevent abuse and ensure the money is used as intended.

Two defendants charged with tax evasion asked to be tried in absentia because of poor health, and prosecutors backed their requests. The court decided to proceed, ruling that their absence, along with that of several other parties to the case, would neither impede the trial nor harm the defendants’ rights.

Thành’s husband, Chu Đức Hòa, appeared in court after being summoned, while her son, Chu Đăng Khoa, asked to be excused.

The trial is expected to last four days. — VNS