HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A court in Vietnam has started the trial of a former executive accused of embezzling from the state oil giant and who Germany says was kidnapped from there by Vietnamese agents last year.

Trinh Xuan Thanh is the former chairman of PetroVietnam's construction arm and is accused of embezzling $622,000 from a property project. The offense carries the death penalty.

He is among eight defendants in the trial that started Wednesday and is expected to last two weeks.

Thanh was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for embezzlement involving a thermo power plant in the country's highest profile case during an ongoing corruption crackdown.

Germany has said Vietnamese intelligence services abducted Thanh from a Berlin park in August. He had been seeking asylum. Vietnam says he returned voluntarily.