Vietnam court sends spy to jail for a second time

HANOI: A fugitive spy was jailed for a second time in Vietnam after a court convicted him for “abuse of power” for pilfering more than US$8mil (RM33mil) from a bank in a share-buying scheme.

Phan Van Anh Vu was convicted as Vietnam’s government widens a corruption crackdown that has already seen dozens of former high-flying officials, executives and businessmen put behind bars.

The former property developer turned runaway spy is already serving eight years after he was convicted in July for “divulging state secrets”. That conviction came after he was arrested in Singapore and swiftly sent back to Vietnam to face trial earlier this year.

Yesterday, a court in Ho Chi Minh City found him guilty of abuse of power in a separate trial linked to the partially state-owned Dong A Bank, said Vu’s lawyer.

He was jailed for 17 years while the bank’s former general director Tran Phuong Binh got life.

“Vu insists that he was not guilty and he will appeal,” said his attorney Nguyen Huu The Trach.

Binh allegedly instructed Vu to sign a falsified document that said Vu purchased US$8.7mil (RM36mil) worth of stocks in Dong A Bank, when in fact he pocketed it. Vu paid the money back this year, his lawyer said.

Vu grabbed headlines when he was arrested in Singapore carrying two passports – one of which was fake – while passing through the city state en route to Europe.

Vu’s conviction shocked many in conservative Vietnam because of his links to the powerful Ministry of Public Security (MPS), long believed to be untouchable.