HANOI: A court in Vietnam sentenced on Tuesday (Sep 30) 16 people at its only state-sanctioned producer of gold bars to lengthy prison terms in a corruption case involving millions of dollars and hundreds of kilogrammes of bullion, state media reported.
State-owned Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC) has maintained a monopoly on gold bullion production in Vietnam since 2012.
But the State Bank of Vietnam announced in August that it will allow qualified commercial banks and enterprises to churn out gold bars starting Oct 10, replacing the former state-exclusive mechanism.
The court ruled on Tuesday that SJC’s former CEO, Le Thuy Hang, had pocketed US$2.7 million and caused a loss of US$4 million to state coffers and SJC “through a series of fraudulent schemes”, according to state media.
At the end of a five-day trial in Ho Chi Minh City, Hang was sentenced to prison for 25 years for property embezzlement and abuse of power, the report said.
Her 15 accomplices – all SJC staff – were given prison terms ranging from two years, suspended, to more than 22 years on the same charges.
Between 2021 and 2024, Hang directed her subordinates to inflate the loss rate when processing 10 tonnes of SJC-branded gold bars, appropriating nearly 3.6kg of gold.
They falsified documents to legalise the surplus gold and sold it for personal gain, according to the report.
The court also said that while handling dented gold bars assigned by the central bank to process, Hang had around 235kg of SJC gold bars and tens of thousands of gold rings illegally manufactured and sold for profit.
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