The judge board of the High People’s Court in HCMC on February 10th announced cancelation of two sentences by the Binh Chanh District and HCMC People’s Courts and suspended the case to Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh who has been proved not guilty.
Mr. Thanh, 59, from District 5 is the representative of Truong Thanh business household in Tan Kien commune, Binh Chanh. The establishment specializes in trading industrial, agricultural and fishery machines; generators; construction equipment and water pumps.
On March 19, 2013, Binh Chanh Police inspected trading activities at the business household and uncovered 12 used electric generators in warehouse. After investigation, the police determined that Mr. Thanh purchased 17 secondhand generator sets worth VND100 million (US$4,405) since 2006.
At the hearing of the first instance, the Binh Chanh People’s Court sentenced Mr. Thanh to a year’s probation for illegal trading by selling the 17 sets of generators and forced him to pay VND10 million ($441) in penalty.
The HCMC People’s Court confirmed the judgment at the appeal hearing.
However at the trial of cassation, the judge board of the High People’s Court in HCMC found the prosecution and trial of Mr. Thanh seriously violated criminal procedure. The selling of generators is not a conditional or prohibited trading field.
When selling the generators, Truong Thanh business household issued value added tax invoices and fully declared as well as conducted tax obligations as per the law.
The trade was also approved by authorized agencies in Binh Chanh so it neither imposes any danger for the society nor breaks the penal law, the board concluded.
