Abducted Vietnamese oil chief faces death sentence

AN OIL executive who was allegedly kidnapped by Vietnamese security forces while on the run in Berlin in August has been charged with a second corruption offence which carries the death penalty, state media report.

Trinh Xuan Thanh, former chairman of PetroVietnam Construction ( PVC), a subsidiary of the state oil company PetroVietnam (PVN), had already been accused of embezzling almost $150 million from his former employer.

He was charged with corruption, which also carries the death penalty, on Tuesday.

On Thursday, he was charged with embezzlement over the alleged underselling of shares in a building project in Hanoi in 2009 and 2010, the VnExpress news site reports.

Thanh allegedly sold shares in the project, in which PVC held a 50.5% stake, to a private developer for 34 million Vietnamese dong (about US$1 500) per square metre rather than the 52 million dong stipulated in the contract.

Thanh is accused of accepting a 14 billion dong bribe from Le Hoa Binh, former chairman of 1/5 Construction and Service JSC, in return for the favour. It’s alleged the deal cost the government 49 billion dong.

Binh was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013 in a separate housing fraud cause.

Thanh fled Vietnam for Germany in 2016 to evade pending charges. After he resurfaced in custody in Hanoi this year, Berlin accused Vietnam of abducting him. Vietnam denies the accusation, insisting Thanh returned freely to turn himself in. His trial is to begin on January 8. – dpa