Former Saigon Co.op chairman has prison sentence reduced to 8 years

A court of appeal in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday reduced the prison sentence for Diep Dung, former chairman of state-controlled retailer Saigon Co.op, from 10 years to 8 years, though he did not appeal.

Reasons for the reduced imprisonment is Dung’s work contribution and the fact that he had paid VND17 billion ($687,000) to the state coffers to remedy the consequences. Dung was sentenced for "abusing power while on duties".

Nguyen Thanh Nhan, 46, former general director of Saigon Co.op, and Ton That Hao, general director of Dai A Real Estate JSC, had their sentences reduced from 5 years to 3 years and 6 months.

Vo Thanh Trung, 45, general director of New Urban Development Investment JSC, had his sentence cut from 5 years to 4 years; while Ho My Hoa, 44, former director of finance at Saigon Co.op, had the figure reduced from 3 years to 1 year and 6 months.

Four other defendants, former Saigon Co.op officials had their sentences reduced by 6 months to one year and 6 months for their lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.

The jury stated that the defendants had caused a loss of VND115 billion ($4.7 million) to the state which was “extremely serious”, so it did not accept the appeal of some people asking for a suspended sentence.

The court noted Saigon Co.op had mobilized VND3 trillion ($123.6 million) from investors to implement a plan to acquire the Big C supermarket chain.

A resolution of the Saigon Co.op board of directors stated that if the deal was not successful, the investors’ capital would be refunded. In cases where the investor did not withdraw the capital, it would be included in the company’s charter capital.

However, since March 2016, Dung, without approval of the board of directors, invested VND300 billion ($12.36 million) in Dai A Real Estate JSC and VND700 billion ($28.84 million) in New Urban Development Investment JSC at an interest rate of 7% over three months.

After receiving money from Saigon Co.op, Ton That Hao, general director of Dai A Real Estate JSC, and Vo Thanh Trung, general director of New Urban Development Investment JSC, deposited the money at banks and received more than VND9.4 billion ($380,000) in interest.

After three months, Hao and Trung reached an agreement with Dung to sign four contract annexes to extend the cooperation period to 12 months and continued to use Saigon Co.op’s money for investments in other companies.

However, citing ineffective investments, in 2018, Hao and Trung asked Dung to adjust the interest rate from 7% to 0%.

During the process, Dung directed his subordinates to complete disbursement procedures and accounting documents on the interest rate reduction for his partners, causing a loss of VND115 billion ($4.7 million) to Saigon Co.op.

With his final words in the instant court on December 29, 2023, Dung admitted all of his violations and expressed his wish to serve his sentence quickly and return as a valuable member of society.