Regarding the case at Van Thinh Phat Group, which is scheduled for trial on March 5th, one of the defendants charged with “embezzlement of assets” is Mr. Duong Tan Truoc (41 years old, residing in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City), General Director of Tuong Viet Trading and Production Co., Ltd. (Tuong Viet Company).
According to the indictment, Tuong Viet Company was established in 2002 and is a general contractor specializing in civil and industrial construction projects, with Cao Viet Dung as the Chairman of the Board and Duong Tan Truoc as the Managing Director. They also established 14 other companies.
Truong My Lan before being arrested.
Mr. Truoc became acquainted with Ms. Truong My Lan in late 2020. In April 2021, Ms. Lan agreed to sell the Thanh Yen apartment project, Binh An Ward, District 2 (now part of Thu Duc City), Ho Chi Minh City to Mr. Truoc and Tuong Viet Company for 2,500 billion VND.
However, Mr. Truoc didn’t have to pay the money, he only needed to create a loan profile at SCB, with the debt amount being 3,500 billion VND. Of this amount, 2,500 billion VND was the transfer payment for the Thanh Yen project, 1,000 billion VND was for Ms. Lan to use, and Ms. Lan was responsible for repaying SCB.
To borrow 3,500 billion VND, Duong Tan Truoc instructed subordinates to contact SCB employees to create a loan plan by establishing Thuan Tien Company and Khanh Minh Company to be named on the loan documents.
On May 19th, 2021, SCB disbursed the funds to these two companies, with the amounts being 1,700 billion VND and 1,800 billion VND respectively.
The purpose of the loans was to supplement the capital transfer in the Investment and Construction Trading Company Song Hanh Co., Ltd. (which holds 100% of the shares of Hermes Power Investment Joint Stock Company – the owner of the Thanh Yen project).
After the disbursement, the money was transferred to the accounts of various individuals and companies in the Truong My Lan and Van Thinh Phat group for various purposes of Ms. Lan.
The collateral for the above-mentioned loans was the right to use land, ownership of houses, and other assets attached to the 7,092 square meters of land in the Thanh Yen project.
As of October 2022, the remaining principal of the loans for Thuan Tien Company and Khanh Minh Company is 3,500 billion VND, and the interest is 590 billion VND.
In addition to being the buyer of the Thanh Yen apartment project, Mr. Truoc also assisted Ms. Lan in completing legal procedures for other real estate projects. Ms. Lan instructed SCB employees to prepare a loan application for Tuong Viet Company for 1,500 billion VND, which, in fact, was the amount Ms. Lan gave to Mr. Truoc.
“Essentially, it is withdrawing money from SCB for Truong My Lan to give to Duong Tan Truoc,” the indictment of the Supreme People’s Procuracy stated.
Therefore, Duong Tan Truoc reported to Cao Viet Dung (Chairman of Thuong Viet’s Board of Directors – a defendant in the case) about Tuong Viet Company’s switch to a credit limit for borrowing funds at SCB to serve business operations.
Although Tuong Viet Company did not have a business plan at that time, did not have a need for loans, and did not have assets to secure the loan, Cao Viet Dung still agreed with Truoc to borrow funds.
Dung signed the minutes of the board of directors meeting to approve borrowing at SCB, signed a credit limit agreement, etc.
Afterwards, Duong Tan Truoc instructed staff to coordinate with SCB employees to have Viet Duc Company named as the borrower, and to create fictitious purchase and sale contracts between Viet Duc Company and companies in the Tuong Viet group to legitimize the loan plan.
Tuong Viet Company’s loan has actually been disbursed 18 times, with a total amount of 1,498 billion VND. Cao Viet Dung did not sign agreements for each disbursement, did not sign debt acknowledgment letters, did not sign payment authorization… but SCB still disbursed the funds.
Cao Viet Dung agreed to let Duong Tan Truoc instruct his staff to carry out this loan and sign with his forged signature.
After receiving the disbursed amount of 1,498 billion VND, Ms. Lan kept 240 billion VND for personal use and continued to instruct the creation of fictitious loan profiles to borrow an additional 248 billion VND to reimburse Tuong Viet Company. Truong My Lan continued to instruct the creation of additional fictitious loan profiles to withdraw money for Mr. Truoc to offset the amount he had used.
Duong Tan Truoc instructed staff to coordinate with SCB employees to have Viet Duc Company named as the borrower, and to create fictitious purchase and sale contracts between Viet Duc Company and companies in the Tuong Viet group to legitimize the loan plan.
On August 18th, 2022, SCB Chợ Lớn Branch signed an agreement for Viet Duc Company to borrow 248.5 billion VND. Although the loan has been disbursed, the loan documents have not undergone a re-evaluation process by the Enterprise Credit Approval Department; a memo from the CEO has not been signed…
Through the above-mentioned loans, the defendants withdrew a total of 1,746 billion VND from SCB. Of this amount, Truong My Lan used 240 billion VND, Duong Tan Truoc used over 1,368 billion VND, and Tuong Viet Company used 138 billion VND for business activities.
After deducting the value of the secured assets, the investigative agency determined that Truoc helped Ms. Lan misappropriate 4,700 billion VND from SCB, resulting in a loss of 605 billion VND in interest.
In addition, Duong Tan Truoc also received over 2,697 billion VND from Ms. Lan. Of this amount, Truoc returned 492.5 billion VND to Ms. Lan (through Truong Hue Van), leaving over 2,204 billion VND.
After the investigation agency initiated the case, Duong Tan Truoc and Tuong Viet Company remedied the consequences by repaying SCB 813 billion VND for the loans of Tuong Viet Company and Viet Duc Company.
Defendant Truoc requested to return all the money he received from Truong My Lan to rectify the consequences.
