Nguyen Duc Kien, courtesy of WorldBreakingNewsChannel via YouTubeA Vietnam court jailed a former banker for 30 years Monday for his part in a series of financial scams worth $1.1 billion.
Nguyen Duc Kien, founder of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), one of Vietnam’s largest private lenders, was convicted of long list of crimes along with seven co-conspirators, the Australia Network News reported.
The other defendants received sentences of between two and eight years.
The court said the defendants used “sophisticated and cunning tricks” to deprive depositors and companies of hundreds of millions of dollars.
“The defendants’ activities manipulated the domestic financial and money markets, badly affecting the monetary and fiscal policies within the country,” the court said.
Kien co-founded ACB and holds stakes in several other banks. He is also the former owner of a Vietnamese soccer league, Hanoi ACB.
When he and ACB’s CEO, Ly Xuan Hai, were arrested in August 2012, it sparked panic among depositors and huge withdrawals.
Hai was arrested for “violating state regulations” and “causing grave consequences.” He received an eight-year sentence Monday.
Kien had denied all allegations and requested more time to prove his innocence. In his final statement to the court a week ago, he claimed there were problems affecting many of Vietnam’s lenders.
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Julie DiMauro is the executive editor of FCPA Blog and can be reached here.
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