Former HCMC Party official gets 10-year jail term for property

Former Deputy Secretary of HCMC's Party unit Tat Thanh Cang stands trial in HCMC, January 8, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

A former Deputy Secretary of HCMC's Party unit was sentenced to 10 years in jail for violations resulting in the loss of VND669 billion ($29.4 million) to the city budget, reported VN Express.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court found Tat Thanh Cang, 50, guilty of "violations in the management and use of state-owned property that led to losses or wastefulness."

According to the indictment, Cang had allowed Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Company Limited (IPC), a wholly owned investment firm under HCMC Party Committee, to reduce its ownership in real estate developer South Saigon Development JSC (Sadeco) by selling nine million shares to electronics retailer Nguyen Kim without competitive bidding that resulted in a loss of at least VND669 billion to the city coffers.

Cang, who was arrested in 2020, was found to be the mastermind in the Sadeco case, the court ruled Saturday.

Te Tri Dung, former CEO of Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Company (IPC) and former chairperson of Sadeco, received a jail term of 20 years while Ho Thi Thanh Phuc, CEO of Sadeco, was jailed for 16 years.

Both were charged with "embezzlement" and "violations in the management and use of state-owned property that led to losses or wastefulness."

Seventeen others involved in the case got between a two-year suspended sentence and 13 years in jail.

Cang had been dismissed in December 2018 from his positions as deputy Party secretary and member of the Party Central Committee as well as the city Party unit's standing committee for the 2015-2020 period.

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