Vietnam prosecutors seek reduced sentence for ex-SJC executive in gold embezzlement case

Prosecutors at the appellate court have proposed a reduced sentence for Lê Thúy Hằng, former general director of SJC Company, and her co-defendants in a case involving the embezzlement of gold and violations of duty. The prosecution recommended a combined sentence of 22 years for Hằng, down from the 25 years imposed by the lower court.

During the initial trial, Hằng was found to be the ringleader, directing accomplices to create false reports. These reports inflated the gold processing loss margin, leading to the embezzlement of 95.8521 taels of gold. Additionally, the defendants illegally produced 6,225 taels of SJC gold bars and over 11,503 taels of SJC gold rings using outside raw materials. The total financial damage from these actions exceeded 107.4 billion Vietnamese dong.

At the appellate hearing, Hằng presented new mitigating factors, including her family's revolutionary contributions and a personal payment of 10 billion Vietnamese dong towards restitution. These new circumstances led the prosecution to recommend a reduction in her sentence. The prosecution also requested leniency for other defendants, including Trần Tấn Phát and Mai Quốc Uy Viễn, former managers at SJC's Tân Thuận jewelry enterprise.

Regarding civil claims, the lower court had ordered Hằng to compensate SJC Company with 14 billion Vietnamese dong and the state budget with 73 billion Vietnamese dong. The court also mandated that Hằng and her co-defendants forfeit over 17,758 taels of SJC gold, identified as the tools and proceeds of the crime that could not be recovered. The prosecution argued that this gold, produced from external raw materials and used in the illegal manufacturing process, was indeed a tool of the crime and its forfeiture was appropriate.