Vietnamese court sentences tycoon Nguyen Duc Kien to 30 years in jail.

The Vietnamese court has sentenced one of the most high-profile banking tycoons to 30 years in jail after being found guilty of financial crimes, according to local reports.

Nguyen Duc Kien, founder of Vietnamese lender Asia Commercial Bank, was found guilty of several crimes for using "sophisticated and cunning tricks" to withhold hundreds some $1.1 billion from clients through elaborate financial scams. 

Nguyen was charged alongside seven co-conspirators, including former minister of planning and investment Tran Xuan Gia, whose hearing has been suspended as he is "fatally ill." 

Nguyen, also previously the owner of the Hanoi ACB football club, was also found guilty of illegally trading gold and stocks worth $1 billion and of evading some Viet25 billion in taxes through the six investment firms he owns. 

"The defendants’ activities manipulated the domestic financial and money markets, badly affecting the monetary and fiscal policies within the country," said the court. 

The 50-year-old Nguyen had denied all allegations and requested more time to prove his innocence, but the judges said he failed to tell the truth.

"The accused was not honest and so must be given serious punishment in line with his crime," said the court.