Phan Quoc Viet's mother summoned to court to clarify 142 billion VND in 52 savings books

On January 5, the Hanoi People's Court continued to try the Viet A case. It is expected that the mother of defendant Phan Quoc Viet (Chairman of Viet A Company) will be summoned to court to clarify the amount of 142 billion VND that she is holding in her name in 52 savings books.

Responding to the People's Court about the frozen assets, Phan Quoc Viet said that there were 3 bank accounts and 55 savings books in his name with a total amount of more than 320 billion VND frozen.

In addition, the authorities also froze 52 savings books in the defendant's mother's name with a total amount of 142 billion VND and 2 savings books worth 20 billion VND in the defendant's son's (14 years old) name.

The Chairman of Viet A said that he will use all the assets in his name to make up for the loss. The account in which the defendant’s mother is named is the Vietnamese currency used to pay off her mother’s debt during the long process of building the company. This asset belongs to the defendant’s mother.

The defendant said that in the 15 years that Viet A Company has been in business, he had to borrow money from his family many times, had to ask for help from his family, and he was not strong enough. Regarding the money in his son's two savings books, Phan Quoc Viet admitted that this was his money. Viet got this money from many different activities.

The panel of judges asked: "Can the defendant prove that it was money to pay off debt? Are there any loan documents?"

In response, the defendant said he had no documents.

The panel of judges continued to ask: "That is a large amount of money, where do you think your mother got the money to lend you that much money?"

Viet replied, the defendant did not know, maybe his mother borrowed more from relatives and friends and did not have any documents.

The jury found this absurd.

In court, Ho Thi Thanh Thuy (Phan Quoc Viet's wife) said that since the outbreak in China, she has been researching test kits herself. In January 2020, when Viet talked about collaborating with the Military Medical Academy to research and produce, she knew about it but did not work directly. "Everything was discussed over the phone with my husband," Thuy said.

Regarding the issue of overcoming the consequences, Thuy said that after being arrested, Phan Quoc Viet authorized his wife to run Viet A Joint Stock Company, and that he and the company will try to overcome the situation "to the best of our ability".

Near the end of the trial on the afternoon of January 4, the panel of judges asked those with rights and obligations related to the case to state their wishes for consideration.

The wife of defendant Trinh Thanh Hung (former Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Economic and Technical Sectors, Ministry of Science and Technology) said that her husband was aware of his wrongdoings and the family paid to fully compensate for the consequences of the case.

In addition, the family also paid an additional 50 million VND, so they hope the panel of judges will consider this as a mitigating circumstance for Mr. Hung.

Defendant Hung's wife also wants to have the 8 savings books of the couple unfrozen because she has to support 2 children in college and her elderly mother-in-law.

The son of defendant Pham Xuan Thang (former Secretary of Hai Duong) said that the family has completely overcome the consequences, so he asked the court to remove the transaction restriction on the account of 300 million VND and 1 real estate; the defendant's wife also asked to remove the blockade of the apartment in Hoang Hoa Tham and 1 real estate in Quoc Oai district.

Defendant Chu Ngoc Anh's wife also requested to remove the freeze on the seized real estate.

In addition, representatives of the CDC and the health departments of the relevant provinces expressed their desire to recover the lost assets in the case, and at the same time requested the panel of judges to consider mitigating circumstances for the defendants because of their achievements in fighting the epidemic.

Wisdom

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