On March 5, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court will try Truong My Lan (68 years old, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group) for the crimes of embezzlement, bribery, and violation of regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions.
The remaining 85 defendants include 45 former leaders and officials of SCB Bank; 15 former officials of the State Bank; 3 former officials of the Government Inspectorate; and a former official of the State Audit Office who are indicted for the crimes of embezzlement, bribery, abuse of power in the performance of official duties, and violations of regulations on banking activities. Five individuals among them, the former leaders of SCB Bank and its branches, are currently fugitives.
Among them, 14 defendants are facing the highest penalty of death, including Lan and 11 accomplices charged with embezzlement under Article 353 (4) of the 2015 Penal Code; Do Thi Nhan, former Director of the Inspection and Supervision Department II under the State Bank, charged with bribery under Article 354 (4) of the Penal Code.
In connection with the case, two other defendants, Sun Henry Ka Ziang, a Chinese national and member of SCB Bank’s Board of Directors, and Lam Lee George, a Canadian national and former member of SCB Bank’s Board of Directors, are also fugitives and their actions will be investigated separately.
“The court calls on the 5 fugitives to surrender themselves to enjoy the leniency of the Party, the State, and cooperate with the authorities in the proceedings to ensure their right to defense as prescribed by law. If they fail to appear, it will be considered as waiving their right to defense and they will be tried in absentia,” said a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court.
 Truong My Lan before being arrested. |
The trial is expected to last until April 29, presided over by Judge Pham Luong Toan – Chief Judge of the Ho Chi Minh City Criminal Court. The Supreme People’s Procuracy has assigned 10 prosecutors from the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy to conduct the prosecution in court, and one absent prosecutor.
The victim in the case is Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) – involved in the wrongdoing of Lan and her accomplices. Lan herself is also identified as a victim in the case of Nguyen Cao Tri, Chairman of Capella Group. Misusing trust to misappropriate assets worth VND 1,000 billion.
Nearly 200 lawyers participate in defending the accused and protecting the legal rights and interests of the parties involved. Among them, Lan has 5 lawyers: Phan Trung Hoai, Phan Minh Hoang, Nguyen Huy Thiep, Giang Hong Thanh, Truong Thanh Duc. Nguyen Cao Tri has 7 defense lawyers; the 5 fugitives also have defense lawyers.
In addition, the court has summoned more than 2,400 individuals with rights and obligations related to the case, divided into 5 groups: group of individuals belonging to SCB Bank (316 people); individuals named as shareholders, borrowers, or collateral assets at SCB Bank for depositing or withdrawing money (1,153 people); legal entities belonging to borrowers or recipients at SCB Bank (692 people); individuals at the State Bank (42 people); and other related individuals (201 people).
In the case, Chu Nap Kee Eric (Lan’s husband), a Chinese national, is also involved, so the court has also summoned some interpreters.
The court and relevant agencies are also finalizing preparations for the upcoming trial.
 The group of 7 high-ranking leaders of SCB Bank is wanted. Suspects Sương, Thà nh, Vũ, Tồn, Ziang, George, Dũng (from left to right, from top to bottom). Photo: Ministry of Public Security |
According to the indictment of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, since 2011, Lan has taken over 3 private banks to merge them into Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and has taken advantage of the bank’s operations to mobilize capital for personal business. Lan used SCB as a financial company to provide funding for the ecosystem of Van Thinh Phat.
Although without any position at SCB, with the ownership of 91.5% of SCB’s shares through various individuals, Lan has absolute control, directing the bank’s leaders and key officials at Van Thinh Phat to withdraw money from SCB through fictitious loan applications. Sometimes, she also instructs to withdraw money in advance and complete the paperwork later.
During 10 consecutive years (from 2012 to 2022), SCB disbursed more than 2,500 loans to Lan’s group with a total amount of over VND 1,066,000 billion, accounting for 93% of the bank’s lending, while the remaining 7% is for regular customers.
By 2022, Lan’s group still has nearly 1,300 loans with a debt balance of over VND 677,000 billion (VND 483,000 billion in principal debt and VND 193,000 billion in interest), falling into the category of uncollectible debt.
To legitimatize the withdrawal of money and avoid detection of misconduct, Lan instructed bank staff to transfer disbursed funds to “shell companies” and then withdrew cash to cut off the money flow.
The authorities determined that from 2012 to 2017, Lan instructed the fabrication of false profiles for 304 clients, borrowing 368 loans. By 2022, these loans still had a remaining debt of over VND 132 billion including principal and interest. After deducting from the assets used as collateral for these loans, it caused a loss of VND 64,600 billion.
From February 2018 to October 2022, Lan instructed the fabrication of 916 loan profiles for SCB amounting to VND 545,000 billion, misappropriating VND 304,000 billion and causing almost VND 130,000 billion in interest. In total, Lan caused a loss of VND 498,000 billion to SCB.
The investigators found that to conceal the weak situation of SCB, helping the bank escape special supervision, Lan instructed the purchase of bribe for the inspection team. Lan was accused of instructing her subordinates to give a bribe to Do Thi Nhan, a former Director of Inspection and Supervision under the State Bank, with an amount of 5.2 million USD.
However, during the investigation, Lan denied any misconduct related to SCB.
Nhan was indicted for bribery; 16 other individuals were indicted for abuse of power while performing official duties.
Hai Duyen
