01 September 2003 :

An appeal court in Vietnam commuted the death sentence handed down on Nguyen Ton Van, a local businessman found guilty of fraud, to life-imprisonment, state media said. The reduction was decided by the Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh city after a five-day trial, the Quan Doi Nhan Dan newspaper said. Nguyen Ton Van, former director of Quoc Binh private enterprise, a trading company, had been sentenced to death in Ho Chi Minh City on 28 March 2003 for "defrauding and appropriating public property". Van and his accomplices were found guilty of failing to repay more than six million dollars borrowed from two banks.