Can Tho City prosecutors on November 27 decided to accuse labour hero Tran Ngoc Suong of yet another crime: embezzlement.

Tran Ngoc Suong at the appeals court.

An official letter was sent from the Co Do District Procuracy to the Mekong Delta city’s Police Agency on the afternoon of November 27.

Not long before, Can Tho City Deputy Huynh Van Tiep told the press on the sidelines of the National Assembly session in Hanoi that “local deputies will work with the City police and the court to check the [Song Hau Farm] case and to see whether all crimes have been prosecuted or not. The current matter is that possibly some of Miss Ba Suong’s crimes were left out. Why has she committed so many crimes but only been prosecuted for one crime?”

According to the the Co Do District Procuracy, Tran Ngoc Suong used farm funds totaling over 1.15 billion dong to buy land in Soc Trang province and for personal expenses. The district procuracy asked the local police to investigate Suong for embezzlement.

Suong’s case has aroused Vietnamese public opinion, which refuses to believe ill of the 60 year-old former collective farm leader. Typically, it’s said that the offense for which she was convicted, maintaining an ‘off the books welfare fund,’ though illegal under current standards, was understandable by the standards of a former time.

Huy Binh – Truong Minh