According to our sources, as of February 22, the Judicial Assistance Police Force has completed the process of transporting Truong My Lan (Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group) and her husband, Chu Lap Co (both 68 years old), and 79 defendants from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.
This is in preparation for the trial of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, which will take place in early March.
 On March 5, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court will hold a trial of the case that occurred at Van Thinh Phat Group. |
Accordingly, Truong My Lan, Chu Lap Co and 84 defendants (excluding 5 wanted defendants) in the case have been prosecuted for charges of “Embezzlement”, “Bribery”, “Receipt of bribery”, “Violation of regulations on lending activities of credit institutions”, “Abuse of position and power in the course of duty performance”, “Serious consequences caused by irresponsibility” and “Misappropriation of property by abuse of trust”.
Since being indicted, the defendants in this case have been temporarily detained in detention camps under the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense, and the North provinces and cities’ police forces.
As previously informed, on March 5, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court will hold a first-instance trial of the case. The trial will last from March 5 to April 29.
Attending the trial are 10 prosecutors from the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy. There are nearly 200 lawyers defending the rights and legitimate interests of the 86 defendants in the case.
In addition, the court also issued summonses to 2,404 individuals with rights and obligations related to Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB), including legal entities named as borrowers, recipients of money at SCB, individuals named as company representatives, borrowers, and collateral asset holders at SCB, involved in depositing and withdrawing money, individuals belonging to the group of SCB officers and other related individuals.
At the same time, the court also issued a notice calling on 5 wanted defendants, former leaders of SCB, related to the case, to surrender themselves as soon as possible to enjoy the leniency of the law.
The 5 wanted individuals include Dinh Van Thanh (former Chairman of the Board of Directors), Chiem Minh Dung (former Deputy General Director), Tram Thich Ton (member of the Board of Directors), Nguyen Thi Thu Suong (former Chairman of the Board of Directors), Nguyen Lam Anh Vu (former Deputy Director of Ben Thanh Branch).
In this case, Truong My Lan has 5 lawyers defending her rights and legitimate interests. She is accused of 3 charges of “Embezzlement”, “Violation of regulations on banking activities” and “Bribery”. At the same time, she is also a victim in the case of Nguyen Cao Tri (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Capella Corporation) with the act of “Misappropriation of property by abuse of trust”.
According to the indictment, from 2012 to October 2022, Truong My Lan actually acquired and held an almost absolute amount of shares of SCB (from 85-91.5% of the shares), thereby becoming a shareholder with “power”. Lan has manipulated the entire operations of SCB to serve various individual purposes.
Truong My Lan and many accomplices have carried out a series of acts including: Selecting and arranging loyal personnel in key positions at SCB; Establishing a number of units under SCB specializing in lending and disbursement as requested by Lan; Establishing and using thousands of “shell” companies, hiring many individuals, colluding with individuals heading many related enterprises to commit crimes.
At the same time, Lan and her accomplices also colluded with many valuation companies to inflate the value of pledged assets; created a large number of fake loan files to withdraw money from SCB; devised withdrawal plans, “cut off” the money flow after disbursement…
It is alleged that from January 1, 2012 to October 7, 2022, the Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group created a large number of fake loan files to withdraw a large sum of money.
Specifically, from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2017, Truong My Lan instructed the creation of 368 fake loan files to withdraw money from SCB for various purposes. By October 17, 2022, she had a remaining debt of VND 132,247 billion, with no possibility of recovery.
Lan’s actions have caused actual damage to SCB amounting to over VND 64,621 billion.
From February 9, 2018, to October 7, 2022, Truong My Lan instructed the creation of 916 fake loan files, embezzling over VND 304,096 billion from SCB, causing damage of over VND 129,372 billion.
By Dam De
