PetroVietnam ex-chairman sentenced to death

hanoi — A court in Vietnam sentenced to death a former chairman of state -run PetroVietnam on Friday after finding him guilty in a mass trial of 51 officials and bankers accused of graft and mismanagement that led to losses of $69 million.

The death sentence for exPetroVietnam chairman Nguyen Xuan Son was the first time in years it had been given to such a senior former official and comes amid an intensifying corruption crackdown and manoeuvring within the ruling Communist Party.

Son maintained his innocence and would appeal against the verdict from the People’s Court of Hanoi, his lawyer, Le Minh Tam, told Reuters. The death penalty had been recommended by the state prosecution. Vietnam is among the world’s biggest executioners, according to Amnesty International. In recent years it has replaced firing squads with lethal injections. —