A Hanoi court sentenced the former chief accountant of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to death after Nguyen Hoang was convicted of embezzling more than 152 billion dong ($6.2 million), according to a Vietnamese government website.
Hoang was found guilty of theft between March 2009 and February 2023, the statement said. He concealed his activities by altering financial statements from 2009 to 2017, it added.
The use of the death penalty in financial crimes has come to the fore in recent months after real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death in April for her role in a $12 billion fraud case.
Read more: Vietnam Paints Billionaire’s Death Sentence as Success of Clean Governance. That’s not the case
The latest conviction is another sign that Vietnam’s years-long anti-corruption campaign led by late Communist Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong shows no signs of slowing down. The repression affected all sectors of society and the highest levels of government.
Hoang pleaded guilty to the charges against him, saying the money was used for personal use and gambling, according to the police investigation.
Directors of two institutions and a former accountant were sentenced to between three and four years in prison for failure to act properly, which led to negative consequences, the statement said.
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