HCMC – The Dak Nong People’s Procuracy on December 21 proposed sentencing Trinh Suong, director of My Hung Co., Ltd in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, to 12-13 years behind bars for allegedly producing and trading in more than 192 million liters of substandard fuels.
At the first-instance court hearing against Suong and 38 other defendants yesterday, a prosecutor said evidence showed that Suong and Nguyen Ngoc Quan, director of Tam Quang chemical company in HCMC, and Dinh Chi Dung, director of Dinh Chi Dung Company in HCMC, had blended chemicals and solvents with real gasoline to produce substandard fuels to earn illegal profits.
Suong and his accomplices had produced over 192 million liters of substandard fuels and sold nearly 189 million liters, earning more than VND151 billion. Meanwhile, Quan produced and sold nearly 12 million liters, earning over VND3.5 billion, and Dung sold over 4.2 million liters, earning over VND2.4 billion, the local media reported.
Their violations impacted consumers and the fuel market order. Therefore, the procuracy suggested a jail term of five to six years for Quan and seven to eight years for Dung.
Furthermore, Nguyen Thi Thu Hoa, deputy director of Pham Son Co., Ltd, the provider of chemical for these substandard-fuel makers, may face a prison term of seven to 7.5 years.
Meanwhile, 35 other defendants faced a jail term of 2.5 to eight years each.
Earlier, Suong said the volume of substandard fuels that he had sold to the market announced by the procuracy was incorrect because before 2017, the competent agencies did not conclude that his company’s fuels were substandard.
From 2017, he began directing his employees to blend chemicals and solvents with real gasoline with different ratios. Real gasoline accounted for 30% at the minimum and 80%, even 90% at the maximum.
Suong hired more facilities to serve the production of low-quality fuel.
To serve the production and trade of substandard fuels, he also established a company and allowed his sister-in-law named Truong Nhu Tuyet Tram to serve as its director. Suong also hired more warehouses in Can Tho City’s O Mon District to expand fuel production through the Ressol Petrochemical Trade JSC, in which he held a 75% stake.
In May 2019, his poor-quality fuel production ring was busted.
