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Vietnam gives life term to oil exec after alleged abduction

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - A court in Hanoi has handed a life prison term to a former executive at Vietnam's state oil giant who Germany said was kidnapped from there by Vietnamese agents last year.

State-run VnExpress said Trinh Xuan Thanh, the former chairman of PetroVietnam's construction arm, was convicted of embezzling $622,000 from a property project at the end of the two-week trial Monday. Seven others were sentenced from six to 16 years in jail on the same charges.

Thanh, 51, received another life prison term two weeks ago after being convicted of embezzling $178,000 from a hydro power plant in another trial in which former Politburo member Dinh La Thang was sentenced to 13 years for economic mismanagement.

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