On the afternoon of 4/5, Pham Nhat Vinh, 49, a former board member of Sadeco Company—a wholly state-owned subsidiary of Tan Thuan IPC Company—and concurrently deputy general director of Nguyen Kim Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (Nguyen Kim Company), was sentenced by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court to two years in prison for violating regulations on the management and use of state assets, causing losses and waste.

The court issued the sentence after acknowledging several mitigating circumstances for Vinh: his insignificant role in the case, his cooperation with the investigating agency, and the fact that while the consequences of the case had been remedied, the defendant and his family still paid an additional 100 million dong.

Previously, in his final statement, Vinh admitted to the criminal act as outlined in the indictment. He also presented his difficult family circumstances, stating he has two young children and a seriously ill wife, and requested a reduced sentence to return home early to care for his family.

Defendant Pham Nhat Vinh in court today. *Photo: Binh Nguyen*.

During Vinh's defense, his lawyer requested the court acknowledge that before his departure, his client cooperated with investigators and left Vietnam before being prosecuted. After going to the US, the defendant could not return to Vietnam due to the pandemic and difficult family circumstances. The defendant repeatedly sent petitions to judicial agencies, explaining his situation and expressing his desire to return and surrender for investigation. By late 2025, after arranging family matters, the defendant returned to Vietnam to surrender and seek leniency.

The verdict determined that before 7/12/2017, Sadeco Company had 60,7% of its capital owned by state-owned enterprises.

Te Tri Dung and other capital representatives used an appraisal from an unauthorized unit to decide to sell 9 million shares to Nguyen Kim Company for 40,000 dong per share, a price lower than the actual value. This caused damages exceeding 1,103 billion dong, including a loss of state assets exceeding 669 billion dong.

At that time, Pham Nhat Vinh was a Sadeco board member and concurrently held the position of deputy general director of Nguyen Kim. In his role as a board member, Pham Nhat Vinh was responsible for maximizing the legal interests of shareholders and the enterprise. However, he voted to approve the plan to issue shares to Nguyen Kim Company at a low price, benefiting this partner.

Despite concurrently serving as deputy general director of Nguyen Kim Company, he still participated in meetings and voted to approve the share issuance plan without auction or appraisal. This helped Nguyen Kim become the controlling shareholder, holding 54,7% of Sadeco's charter capital.

During the investigation and at court today, Vinh stated that he trusted Sadeco's previously implemented procedures and therefore did not thoroughly research legal regulations or fully review related documents. The defendant affirmed he did not personally benefit.

The undervalued sale of 9 million Sadeco shares is one of the violations in a major case involving Tan Thuan Company (IPC) and related entities, which includes the responsibility of Tat Thanh Cang, former deputy secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.

Hai Duyen