Death sentence proposed to uphold for former chief of Vietnam's state-run shippi

Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam on Wednesday proposed to uphold the death sentence for former chairman of state-run shipping firm Vinalines.

During the second day of the appeal trial held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Wednesday following the appeal of Duong Chi Dung, former chairman of the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) and other eight defendants, the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam suggested the court not to accept the appeals of four defendants.

They include Duong Chi Dung, Mai Van Phuc (former CEO of Vinalines), Tran Huu Chieu (former deputy CEO of Vinalines), Tran Hai Son (former CEO of Vinalines Shipyard Co Ltd), and Mai Van Khang (former deputy CEO of Vien Duong Vinashin Co, a member of the Vinalines project management board).

The Supreme People's Procuracy also suggested increasing the level of compensation applying for Duong Chi Dung.

Meanwhile, four other defendants including Le Van Duong ( registry official at Vietnam Register), Huynh Huu Duc, Le Ngoc Trien and Le Van Lung (former officials at Van Phong Customs Office in Khanh Hoa province) were proposed to reduce punishment and compensation level following extenuating of honest confession.

The Hanoi People's Court in late 2013 sentenced Duong Chi Dung to death for embezzlement, together with an 18-year imprisonment for intentionally violating state regulations on economic management causing severe consequences.

Mai Van Phuc, former CEO of Vinalines was given the same punishment as Dung.

According to the indictment, during 2007-2008, Dung and his accomplices violated regulations on investment, bidding and customs procedures for import and export through the purchase and repair of Floating Dock 83M. The malpractice caused losses of almost 367 billion Vietnamese dong (17.4 million U.S. dollars) to the state budget.

In the deal, Dung and three others embezzled over 1.6 million U. S. dollars.

The indictment said while knowing the floating dock, built in 1965, was damaged and had not been in use since 2006 and the owner offered a negotiable price of under 5 million U.S. dollars, Dung still signed a decision in February 2008 approving the purchase of the dock at a price tag of 9 million U.S. dollars from an broker, the Singapore-based AP company, which bought the dock from its real owner, Nakhodka, for only 2.3 million U.S. dollars.

Dung was arrested in September 2012 after being chased for several months since May that year when an arrest warrant were issued for him.

On the second day of the trial, lawyers defending for the accused said the floating dock is not a ship, thus trying to prove that the behaviors of defendants in bidding, paying and applying of customs procedures did not violate regulations.

After the proposal of the Supreme People's Procuracy, lawyers of Duong Chi Dung and Mai Van Phuc asked the court to nullify the conclusion of the first instance trial to re-conduct investigation.

Commenting on an article over the trial of Duong Chi Dung on Thanh Nien (Young People) online newspaper Wednesday, reader named Chuongdo said Dung and Phuc deserved the death penalty.

Another reader from Dong Nai province also commented that the violators should be strictly punished as an example for others.