Nguyen Duc Kien. Photo: baodatviet

The Hanoi People’s Court will reopen the trial of Nguyen Duc Kien, former vice chairman of the founding council of the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) on May 20, after it was postponed because one of his eight alleged accomplices was absent due to poor health.

Nguyen Duc Binh, Chief Justice of the court, announced the information on May 8, adding that peremptory writs (summons) were sent to Kien’s fellow defendants on the same day.

Tran Xuan Gia, former ACB Chairman, who is in a hospital in Hanoi receiving treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), will be notified later of his obligation to appear in court, Binh asserted.

Binh added that the trial will run as usual even if Gia is absent. The judge can sentence defendants by default provided that their absence does not hinder the trial.

Kien, who was born in 1964 and resides in Quang An ward, Tay Ho district, Hanoi, is charged with four offences – swindling for appropriation of assets, intentional violations of the State’s economic management regulations causing serious consequences, tax evasion and illegal trading.

Tran Ngoc Thanh and Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, Director and Chief Accountant of the Hanoi ACB Investment JSC, are charged with swindling to appropriate assets.

Tran Xuan Gia and other defendants, including former Vice Chairpersons Le Vu Ky and Trinh Kim Quang; ACB former General Director Ly Xuan Hai; ACB former Chairman Pham Trung Cang; and the bank’s former board member Huynh Quang Tuan, are charged with acting against the State’s economic management regulations, which caused serious consequences.

Source: VNA