On September 25, the Hanoi Court of Appeals opened an appellate trial following an appeal for a reduced sentence filed by Do Anh Dung, chairman of the Tan Hoang Minh Group.
Mr. Do Anh Dung was convicted of “appropriation of property by fraud” by the first-instance court. He was the only one among the 15 defendants to file an appeal.
At the appellate trial, Mr. Dung stated that during his nearly 1,000 days in prison, he had been aware of the need to return the money to the victims. While in detention, he had arranged to repay nearly VND 8,000 billion to the victims during the two times he was allowed to meet with his family.
“The amount of money is very large, but it has to be done. The first-instance court did not fully recognize my efforts. As for the money invested in the projects, it cannot be recovered immediately. The consequences of the case have been completely remedied. Since I have done wrong, I am willing to make amends, so I hope that the appellate court will consider granting me the lightest sentence possible so that I can return to restore the operations of the group. We still have many other projects, and if they are left unattended, a lot of assets will be wasted. Therefore, please consider giving me the lightest sentence,” Mr. Dung pleaded to the court.
Do Anh Dung at the appellate court.
Towards the end of the morning session, the representative of the Hanoi People’s Procuracy presented their opinion on the appeal. According to the representative, the first-instance verdict sentencing Mr. Dung to eight years in prison was justified and accurate in terms of the defendant and the offense committed. At the appellate trial, Mr. Do Anh Dung admitted his guilt and pleaded for a reduced sentence.
The Procuracy acknowledged that the defendant’s crime was particularly serious and that he played the most critical role in the case. However, during the appellate trial, the defendant showed sincerity, remorse, and a willingness to make amends. Many victims also requested leniency for the defendant, considering his significant contributions to society and his family’s efforts to compensate for the damages caused by the case.
Based on these considerations, the Procuracy proposed partially accepting the appeal and reducing Mr. Do Anh Dung’s sentence by six to nine months.
The appellate court also examined the appeal filed by Ms. Pham Thi Thi (46 years old, from Thanh Hoa), a victim in the case, who requested two things: an increase in the prison sentence for Mr. Dung and the repayment of bond interest according to the contract terms. In the first-instance trial, this victim was awarded compensation of VND 2 billion.
At the Court of Appeals, the victim stated that she had raised money from friends and relatives to purchase Tan Hoang Minh’s bonds, but just five days later, Mr. Dung was arrested, rendering the VND 2 billion in bonds worthless. As a result, she faced constant demands for repayment from her friends and relatives, driving her into debt. Six months later, she was still unable to repay the debt as Tan Hoang Minh had not yet returned her money.
The victim claimed that her creditors had resorted to “unethical measures,” which severely affected her psychologically and disrupted her life. One of the creditors filed a civil lawsuit, and she lost the case, being ordered to repay the principal amount of VND 2 billion plus VND 200 million in interest.
As a civil servant, Ms. Thi argued that the case had significantly impacted her honor, psychology, and family life. These were the reasons for her appeal to increase the prison sentence and demand additional interest.
Regarding this appeal, the appellate Procuracy assessed that the civil judgment indicated that Ms. Thi borrowed money “for her husband’s business needs” and did not mention that it was for purchasing Tan Hoang Minh’s bonds. Therefore, there was no basis to determine that her debt was incurred due to purchasing the bonds, and thus, it could not be concluded that her inability to repay was caused by Tan Hoang Minh. The Procuracy proposed rejecting both requests in the appeal.
Furthermore, the first-instance verdict specified that this was a criminal case and only decided on the civil liability related to the misappropriated funds. Therefore, there was no basis for calculating the various interest amounts requested by the victim.
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