The Hanoi People’s Court Wednesday opened the trial for fraud of Nguyen Dinh Chien, a colorful 59-year-old businessman who was once imprisoned and released for lack of evidence, and recently appeared in a TV show featuring famous people.
Chien, general director of the Bac Ha Trade and Investment Joint Stock Company, has been charged with “committing fraud to misappropriate assets.”
According to the indictment, he falsified financial documents, including from foreign banks, to inflate the value of his businesses to sign contracts.
He allegedly misappropriated VND20 billion (US$1.04 million) from the Hanoi-based Nguyen Trai University, and VND6.5 billion from Dai Vien Duong Company.
He is also accused of misusing lands belonging to Dai Vien Duong to get a VND80 billion loan from Dai Duong Bank.
In 1996, when he was the director of a Hai Phong real estate company, Chien was arrested by the Can Tho police following complaints he had pocketed public assets.
He spent 28 months in custody and was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1998.
He later appealed to the People’s Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City which cleared him of all the charges in 2006 for lack of evidence.
In 2008, Vietnam’s highest court ordered Can Tho prosecutors to publicly apologize to Chien and compensate him for the 28 months he spent in jail and for 10 years of mental anguish when he was in legal limbo.
Chien himself later demanded VND568 billion ($29.8 million) in compensation to make up for profits he lost since his business had to close following his arrest.
In May 2009 he appeared as a successful business figure on the well-known VTV1 talk show Nguoi duong thoi (Contemporary People).
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