HANOI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The court of appeals on Monday upheld the life imprisonment passed in 2017 by the court of first instance on Chau Thi Thu Nga, former member of Vietnam's National Assembly, the country's top legislature, for swindling to appropriate assets.
The court of appeals in Hanoi capital city also ruled that Nga, who was dismissed from the National Assembly in 2015, and former chairwoman of local real estate firm Housing Group, has to make a compensation of over 54 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 2.4 million U.S. dollars) to her customers.
The Housing Group had not been licensed by Hanoi authorities to implement a housing project in the city, but Nga ordered staff to make up things so that a big apartment building seemed to be under construction.
According to the verdict passed by the court of first instance, Nga and eight of her accomplices publicized false information about the project to deceive customers and misappropriated nearly 377 billion Vietnamese dong (16.6 million U.S. dollars) paid by 726 housing buyers who received no apartments. Nearly 29 billion Vietnamese dong (1.3 million U.S. dollars) was returned to 43 customers.
In 2017, the court of first instance handed down life imprisonment on Nga and jail terms of two to seven years on the eight accomplices. The court of appeals on Monday slightly reduced sentences on the eight accomplices.
