A Dong Nai Province court has halted the trial of a Japanese former company executive and his lover for allegedly misappropriating $6.83 million from his company after the latter provided contradictory testimonies.
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| Nishimura Setsuo, 56, and his lover Duong Thi Thanh Nhan, 29, in court |
The Dong Nai Province People’s Court had begun the trial of Nishimura Setsuo, 56, former financial director of the province-based Sanyo Di Solutions Vietnam Co Ltd, and Duong Thi Thanh Nhan, 29, a local who once owned a bar in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1, for “abusing trust to appropriate assets.”
When the company discovered the money was missing, Setsuo and Nhan fled but the police caught up with them and arrested them.
The trial began despite the absence of some witnesses and the company representative, but the court ordered the case to be reinvestigated.
According to the indictment, between July 2008 and April 2009, Setsuo ordered an accountant to withdraw VND30.4 billion (US$1.45 million) from the company’s bank accounts.
Setsuo told the police he had given all the money to Nhan, with whom he had lived. He also gave her $530,000 he took from the company.
Nhan admitted to taking the VND30.4 billion and US$530,000 to open her bar despite knowing it had been taken illegally from the company by Setsuo. But she said she had returned VND11.9 billion to him.
The indictment thus made Nhan an accomplice in Setsuo’s alleged crime.
But in court Nhan claimed she had received only VND19.4 billion from her lover and had returned VND11.9 billion.
She confessed she had spent the money on her restaurant and on gambling during numerous trips abroad.
But Setsuo insisted: “I gave all the money directly to her or through her relatives. I did not use the money for any other purpose. I do not understand why she says so.”
Japanese-owned Sanyo Di Solutions Vietnam Co Ltd manufactures digital cameras and is located in the Bien Hoa II Industrial Park in Bien Hoa.
(Source: TTNews)
