HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Court on Tuesday handed down jail terms to four people charged with irresponsibility causing losses to the Coastal Fisheries Development Corporation (Cofidec).

Nguyễn Thanh Xuân, former acting director, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for violating the State’s regulations on economic management and taking advantage of his position.

Võ Huệ Trân, former director, and Ngô Ngọc Sơn, former deputy head of the import-export division, were sentenced to three years and two years and five months, respectively, for violating the State’s regulations on economic management resulting in serious consequences.

Đặng Hữu Thịnh, head of the import-export division, was sentenced to 2.5 years probation on the same count.

According to the indictment presented at the start of the four-day trial, Cofidec was at the time engaged in processing and trading agricultural, forestry and seafood products. It also imported machines, equipment and material related to its work.

Since February 2004, importers from the United States had stopped buying shrimps from Việt Nam, but they still instructed their employees to draw up fake contracts with international partners.

Thịnh and Sơn helped Xuân and Trân prepare the fake contracts and shipped a large quantity of frozen shrimps to the United States, causing the company losses of VNĐ38.7 billion (US$2.4 million).

Investigative police found that all the signatures by directors of foreign companies on the contracts were actually signed by Sơn, under the instructions of Xuân, Trân anh Thịnh.

Xuân, as an acting director, also paid travel expenses for the mechanics who installed imported machines, although it was not stipulated in the machine import contracts, causing losses of VNĐ73 million ($3,200) for the company. — VNS