On the afternoon of January 26, the Hanoi People’s Court held a first-instance trial for defendant Le Van Chung (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Cement Corporation – VICEM), defendant Nguyen Ngoc Anh (former General Director of VICEM), and other defendants involved in the VICEM Operations and Trading Center project in the new Cau Giay urban area (Hanoi).
Defendant Le Van Chung faced charges of Violating Bidding Regulations Causing Serious Consequences and Violating Regulations on the Management and Use of State Assets Leading to Loss and Waste.
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Three Alleged Violations
During the trial, the presiding judge reiterated three alleged violations by Mr. Chung. First, he was the decision-maker behind the construction of the VICEM Center project, combining office space and rentable offices.
Second, despite knowing that input data had been inflated, he signed documents related to the project’s implementation and development.
Third, aware that project appraisals by functional units were merely formalities, he failed to direct proper evaluations. He directly approved an investment level higher than the certified amount, resulting in a project investment exceeding 1.2 trillion VND, which remains unutilized, causing the state a loss of over 380 billion VND.
Regarding these violations, Mr. Chung admitted to making direct decisions and signing relevant documents.
However, concerning the inflated data, Mr. Chung explained that, according to the corporation’s hierarchy, the project was assigned to General Director Nguyen Ngoc Anh as the investor representative, responsible for preparing the feasibility report and assessing the project’s effectiveness. Mr. Chung claimed he was unaware of the specific data involved.
He stated that during that period, he was “extremely busy” managing five other cement projects under the Prime Minister’s directives. For the VICEM Center project, the General Director and member units were responsible to the Board of Directors. Later, when the investigation agency pointed out the violations, “the defendant recognized his own mistakes.”
Mr. Chung also admitted to signing a document on September 23, 2010, increasing the project’s total investment from over 1.4 trillion VND to more than 1.9 trillion VND, just three days after Hanoi People’s Committee issued the investment certificate.
“The defendant trusted the investor’s report and believed the project dossier was complete, with only technical issues remaining for later adjustment. That was the defendant’s mistake,” Mr. Chung stated.
The former VICEM Chairman also claimed he did not detect any irregularities in the report prepared by Mr. Long and his team, with a total investment of 1.450 trillion VND, “as it was not identified at the time.”
The increase to 1.9 trillion VND was based on the consulting contract between Vietnam Cement Corporation and the German contractor. As the investor, Mr. Anh was responsible for preparing the report, following the corporation’s delegated authority and responsibilities.
During project implementation, documents showed office rental prices starting at 20 USD/m², which were later inflated to 40 USD, then 50 USD within a short period.
Mr. Chung explained, “The defendant delegated this task to his subordinates and was not aware of the details.”
Accepting Money Without Inspection
According to the indictment, during the execution of Package No. 19 of the project, defendants Nguyen Ngoc Anh and Du Ngoc Long (former Head of the Project Management Unit) colluded with Do Dinh Thu, General Director of EON Company, agreeing to receive a 5% kickback from the payment.
Mr. Thu then gave Mr. Long over 3.2 billion VND, who in turn gave Mr. Chung 200 million VND.
Regarding the money receipt, the former VICEM Chairman denied instructing Mr. Long to favor EON in the bidding process. Mr. Long had given him a Tet gift, but he “did not open it,” “did not know what the money was for,” and “was unaware of EON’s 5% kickback.”
“The defendant thought it was a Tet gift from colleagues as he was nearing retirement. It happened a few times, but the defendant did not pay attention,” Mr. Chung said.
To date, Mr. Chung has returned the 200 million VND.
BUI TRANG
– 09:33 27/01/2026
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