HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Three Vietamese businessmen were sentenced to life in prison and ten other defendants received lesser prison terms in one of Vietnam’s biggest corruption trials, newspapers reported Monday.
The case involved graft and embezzlement at the Nam Dinh Textile Co. — dubbed “Corruption Corp.” by local media — and nearly $24 million in stolen funds, missing state revenue and bad debts.
Nguyen Duy Kiem, director of the company; successor Nguyen Van Tuyen; and chief accountant Tran Ngoc Vinh were sentenced to life and each ordered to pay more than $800,000 in compensation.
They were convicted of graft, embezzlement, deliberate distortion of government economic management regulations and falsified documents.
Ten others received prison terms ranging from 18 months to 20 years. One was given a suspended sentence.
Eight defendants were ordered to pay compensation ranging from $2,300 to $23,000 to the company for graft and stolen funds.
Two senior officials from the ministries of industry and finance were sentenced to two years and 18 months, respectively.
Last May, a court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced four people to death for corruption in a commercial party organization. Three were executed by firing squad earlier this year. One was pardoned.