A jury in Vietnam sentenced a former deputy minister of industry and trade to six times on Tuesday for “power abuse” in a plan for the development of renewable power.
The Southeast Asian nation has made an effort to join soaring need and has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Hoang Quoc Vuong, 62, admitted accepting a$ 57,600 reward to benefit solar power plants in southwestern Ninh Thuan state with special costs when they sold energy to the country’s power company.
Between 2015 and 2020, Vuong served as the deputy minister of trade and industry and served as the head of the state-owned Electricity of Vietnam ( EVN ) between 2012 and 2015.
In accordance with the verdict, EVN spent almost$ 145-2 billion (4, 000 billion ) to purchase solar power from three solar power plants in Ninh Thuan province between 2018 and 2020, resulting in a loss of more than$ 40 million to the state budget.
Vuong acknowledged to the court that he had received a pay but that his family had already paid it up.
” I believe that I had done something wrong that caused loss during my people work performance.” Therefore, I accept responsibility for returning the money to the state,” Vuong told the jury.
In his last words before the judge, Vuong claimed that his “worrydoings were terrible lessons, erasing my efforts ( to the condition ) in several positions.”
Eleven additional taxes and energy officials in the case were even tried. For alleged abuse of power and a lack of responsibilities, they received punishments that ranged from three-year suspended sentences to six-year prison phrases.
Additionally, the court in Hanoi ordered three power plants to pay back the$ 40 million in losses to the state-owned group after benefiting from the power sales to EVN.
