Pham Thanh Binh, former chairman of Vietnam
Shipbuilding Industry Group, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on March 30,
for intentionally violating state regulations that resulted in serious
consequences, during his tenure in the company.
Binh,
58, was convicted of intentionally violating state regulations while he was
head of Vinashin, and received the maximum punishment possible for charges of
misappropriation of funds which resulted in the collapse of the company.
Eight
other former executives of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group were handed
sentences between three to 19 years.
“This
case caused serious economic consequences,” said court president Tran Van
Nghiem at the ruling in the northern city of Hai Phong.
Acts
committed by Binh and other executives of the company damaged the company, reduced public trust and
harmed the prestige of the country in the eyes of foreign investors, resulting
in stagnant business production that forced the government to appoint a new
management, Nghiem added.
The
former Vinashin executives were blamed for losses of more than US$43 million,
mostly from procurement of an Italian-made high-speed passenger vessel and two
electric generators.
In
December 2010, the company defaulted on the first $60 million installment of a
$600 million loan arranged by Credit Suisse in 2007.
Binh
admitted during his four-day trial that he had made mistakes but insisted that
he had not acted for his own personal gain.
He told
the court on Friday that he was devoted to the shipbuilding industry, though
sometimes he had made mistakes that were against regulations and the
government.
Vinashin,
a state-owned company founded in 1996, was reduced to bankruptcy in 2009 after
accumulating enormous debts exceeding $4.11 billion.
The
Vietnamese government has ever since restructured the company under new
management.
SGGP
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