Two former executives of ailing Vietnamese shipping group Vinalines have been sentenced to death for embezzlement.
The verdict comes after the executives siphoned off nearly a million dollars and caused losses of over US$17 million. Eight other officials were also tried in the case, receiving jail sentences of between five and 22 years.
The Vinalines trial follows on from the jailing of the former head of Vietnam's state-owned shipbuilding arm Vinashin, who received a sentence of 20 years for mismanagement.
Attempting to structure the Vinalines/Vinashin group like a South Korean "chaebol", the company became loaded with debt following the global financial crisis with the group disastrously attempting to diversify into other markets, including real estate and finance.
Vinashin's debts total over US4.0 billion.
