HANOI
(Reuters) - A Vietnam court sentenced to death a former chairman of state -run
PetroVietnam on Friday after finding him guilty in the mass trial of 51
officials a
nd bankers accused of graft and mismanagement that led to losses of
$69 million.
The
ex-PetroVietnam chairman Nguyen Xuan Son was the second of the accused to be
sentenced as the People’s Court of Hanoi began delivering its verdict in the
long running trial.
The death
penalty had been recommended by the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam.
Vietnam has
introduced the use of lethal drugs for executions in recent years, having
previously used firing squads.
The court
had earlier in the day sentenced tycoon Ha Van Tham, founder of Ocean Group’s
banking unit, Ocean Bank, to life imprisonment, having found him guilty of
charges ranging from embezzlement to abuse of power.
Dozens of
other banking and energy officials were also sentenced to jail terms.
The mass
trial was a result of the tougher stance on corruption taken by the ruling
Communist Party since Vietnam’s security establishment emerged stronger from a
power struggle last year in which ex-Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung lost out.
The party
says it wants to tackle corruption but some critics have accused Vietnam’s
rulers of embarking on a witch-hunt following the launch of investigations
implicating increasingly senior figures.
Dung lost
out last year in the battle to secure the post of Communist Party General
Secretary, Vietnam’s most powerful position. The post remained in the hands of
Nguyen Phu Trong, whose modest public profile contrasts with the conspicuous
wealth that some members of Dung’s administration had displayed.
Investigations
into PetroVietnam has seen a Politburo member who was a former PetroVietnam
chairman, a vice trade minister sacked from their positions and a former deputy
central bank governor prosecuted.
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