Former General Director, former Chairman of the Board of Members of Cienco 1 caused damage of nearly 240 billion VND

Two former leaders of Cienco 1 Can Hong Lai (left) and Pham Dung - Photo: Ministry of Public Security

The defendants on trial include: Can Hong Lai (born in 1955, former General Director of Cienco 1), Pham Dung (born in 1961, former Chairman of the Board of Members of Cienco 1), Le Van Long (born in 1970, former Chief Accountant of Cienco 1), Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh (born in 1971, Deputy Head of Finance and Accounting Department of Cienco 1 - Joint Stock Company), Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen (born in 1980, former Auditor of A&C Auditing Company - Hanoi Branch, now Deputy General Director of ASCO Auditing and Valuation Company Limited), Nguyen Manh Tien (born in 1971, former Head of Market Planning Department of Cienco 1 - Joint Stock Company), Nguyen Anh Tuan (born in 1973, Deputy Head of Auditing Department 3, appraiser of A&C Auditing Company, Hanoi Branch) were prosecuted by the Supreme People's Procuracy for the crime of "Violating regulations on management of assets and liabilities of enterprises". "Managing and using State assets causing loss and waste" as prescribed in Article 219, Clause 3 - Penal Code.

Previously, this case was brought to trial in April 2023 but had to be postponed because at the trial, some defense lawyers for the defendants requested the Trial Panel to summon Mr. Nguyen Hoang Duc - Director, Pham Quang Huy - Head of Auditing Department 2, A&C Auditing Company - Hanoi Branch, because there were many details related to the appraisal process that needed to be clarified.

In addition, the lawyer requested to summon the legal representatives of 6 companies that paid more than 65 billion VND of bad debts, which were included in the 185 billion VND that the defendant group Cienco 1 used the reserve fund to compensate, and excluded it from the enterprise value accounting. The reason given by the representative of the General Corporation for Traffic Construction 1 (Cienco 1) - Joint Stock Company, was that, according to the records, books, and documents recorded at the enterprise, the above amount was only about 7 billion VND.

According to the indictment, Cienco 1 was originally under the Ministry of Transport. In 2013, with the policy of equitization, the Ministry decided to establish an Equitization Steering Committee, with Pham Dung as Head and Can Hong Lai as Permanent Deputy Head.

In June 2014, Cienco 1 was successfully equitized. The new business registration shows that the charter capital of this enterprise is 700 billion VND, of which 35% is state capital. By the end of 2014, the Ministry of Transport divested all of this 35% capital.

During the equitization process, the defendants in the case and a number of related individuals and units committed many violations, causing the loss of hundreds of billions of VND of state assets.

Specifically, the defendants: Can Hong Lai, Pham Dung, Le Van Long, Nguyen Manh Tien, Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, with their assigned roles and tasks, clearly knew the provisions of the law on determining the value of enterprises for equitization, but the defendants still intentionally agreed to settle the debts of 50 companies with a total amount of nearly 185 billion VND, contrary to the provisions of the law, not including this amount in the value of the enterprise when equitizing. After that, the defendants did not hand over the above settled debts to the Vietnam Debt Trading Company (DATC) for management and debt collection according to regulations, leading to a loss to the State of nearly 185 billion VND.

The defendants: Nguyen Anh Tuan and Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen clearly knew that the receivables initially provided by Cienco 1 were consistent with reality, but then accepted the edited figures provided by Cienco 1, intentionally did not follow the correct procedures for determining the enterprise value, and assisted the defendants at Cienco 1 in removing the receivables of nearly 185 billion VND from the enterprise value, causing a loss to the State of nearly 185 billion VND.

Defendants: Pham Dung and Can Hong Lai also failed to re-determine the value of Cienco 1's land use rights at market price to include in the value when equitizing according to the provisions of law, the direction of the Ministry of Transport and the Government. This violated the regulations on determining the value of land use rights at market price to include in the enterprise value, causing a loss to the State of VND 54.7 billion.

The Supreme People's Procuracy concluded that in determining the enterprise value when equitizing Cienco 1, the criminal acts of the defendants Pham Dung and Can Hong Lai caused a loss to the State of nearly 240 billion VND. The criminal acts of the defendants: Le Van Long, Nguyen Manh Tien, Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, Nguyen Anh Tuan and Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen caused a loss to the State of nearly 185 billion VND.

According to VNA