Chien at his office

LookAtVietnam Bridge – Nguyen Dinh Chien, the victim of a decade-long legal case, has asked the People’s Procuracy of Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta to compensate him $35.5 million for damages.

Chien was the victim of a prolonged legal case, during which he lost nearly ten years to be cleared of a charge.

The man was the Director of Vimproco Company, which was established in 1992. In 1995, Chien’s capital in Vimproco was up to VND9 billion of the firm’s total capital of VND15 billion.

In 1994, Chien’s company bought over 9,000 tonnes of sugar from a company in Can Tho city, Mekonimex. Chien’s company sold the above sugar batch to a company in Soc Trang province, under the guarantee of a bank. The company in Soc Trang sold the sugar and ran away. The bank that guaranteed the affair didn’t pay Chien’s company. As a result, Chien’s company owed Mekonimex over VND40 billion and Can Tho police arrested Chien.

The case was brought to trial in April 1998, and Chien was charged with appropriating VND19 billion. The first court of appeals in January 1999 returned a verdict of not guilty. In the following court sessions Chien was cleared of charges but the Can Tho city People’s Procuracy insisted that he was guilty.

Chien was released at the first court of appeals but over one year later he was dragged back to court. Between then and 2006 he had to go to court many times to finally be cleared in late 2006.

During this period of time, Chien lost all of his capital at Vimproco. Several days after he was declared innocent, Chien filed a claim with the Can Tho city People’s Procuracy for VND452 billion in compensation, including VND75 billion for himself and VND217 billion for his company. He also asked for compensation for back interest, totalling over VND160 billion and some others. The total compensation is VND568 billion or $35.5 million.

Chien also asked the Can Tho city People’s Procuracy to apologise to him on the media.

On May 6, 2008, the Can Tho city People’s Procuracy invited Chien to a ceremony, at which he will be apologised to by the agency and the two sides will discuss compensation for his losses.

Huynh Anh