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| Nguyễn Thị Hoàng Oanh (first left) and her accomplices at the court. HCM City People’s Court on December 15 sentenced the defendants involved in the Agribank corruption case. – Photo baomoi.com |
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY – HCM City People’s Court has sentenced Nguyễn Thị Hoàng Oanh, former director of Bến Thành branch of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Việt Nam (Agribank), to life in prison on corruption charges after a 10-day trial.
Oanh, 57, was sentenced for three offences of property embezzlement, receiving bribes and violating lending regulations.
Earlier at the hearing, a representative of the Procuracy proposed giving Oanh the death penalty.
However, Oanh received extenuating circumstances due to her long dedication to her work and she has repaid most of the money stolen from the bank.
Lê Văn Tính, former director of Kim Gia Thảo Ltd Co, also received life imprisonment for property misappropriation and bribery.
The remaining 10 defendants, Oanh and Tính’s accomplices, received from three-year suspended sentences to 26 years in prison from the court.
According to the indictment, Oanh used the names of eight people, created dossiers and completed loan procedures to appropriate 2,660 taels of gold from the country’s biggest gold bar trader, Sài Gòn Jewellery Joint Stock Company, worth VNĐ47.2 billion (US$2 million) from the branch.
Oanh said she spent 2,250 gold taels to purchase a house on Trần Quang Khải Road in District 1’s Tân Định Ward, and then rented it to Agribank Bến Thành’s transaction office for a total of VNĐ5.6 billion ($5,800 a month).
She used the remaining gold on private businesses. When the debt was due, Oanh directed Cao Bá Hiếu (former deputy head of Agribank Bến Thành’s Business Planning Division) and Trương Thế Thanh (former director of Agribank Branch No 3) to use Liên Lục Địa Ltd Co and the names of some other individuals and businesses to borrow money from Agribank Bến Thành and used the money for repayment.
Additionally, Oanh allowed Thanh, former director of Agribank Branch No 3, to use the names of another two persons to borrow VNĐ13 billion ($572,000) from Agribank Bến Thành for personal purposes. But Thanh failed to repay the bank.
Oanh’s actions are said to have caused Agribank Bến Thành losses of more than VNĐ358 billion ($15.7 million).
Oanh was also accused of receiving bribes for approving a VNĐ24.6 billion loan for Lê Văn Tính. – VNS
