An appeal court in Ho ChiMinh City Thursday commuted the life sentence of Huynh Ngoc Si, former deputydirector of the city Department of Transport and Public Works, to 20 years’imprisonment for taking bribes from a Japanese company.
A combination of the court rulingand an earlier appeal court ruling, which gave him six years in jail for “abuseof power”, makes a total of 26 years imprisonment.
The 58-year-old, formerdirector of the East-West Highway and City Water Environment Improvementproject, got the life sentence at a court in the city in October last year fortaking US$262,000 (more than VND5 billion) as bribes from Pacific ConsultantInternational in order to do things in favor of the Japanese company.
During the latest court from August30 to September 1, he said he was not guilty, did not receive $262,000 from PCIexecutives, and did not do anything in favor of PCI.
The public prosecutor appealeda reduction of his life sentence. The attorney explained that were gaps inVietnam’s administration and management, together with the act of giving bribesby PCI executives, made him guilty.
The remission decision by the HoChi Minh City People’s Supreme Court Thursday resulted from the fact that hisfamily had returned VND3 billion to law enforcement authorities, the courtsaid.
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