On March 5th, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court conducted a trial in the first instance against Truong My Lan (68 years old, Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group), Chu Lap Co (68 years old) and 84 other defendants in a case related to Van Thinh Phat Group and SCB Bank.
The defendants were brought to trial for offenses including embezzlement, bribery, accepting bribes, violating lending regulations of credit institutions, abusing power and authority while performing official duties, and misappropriation of assets.
Truong My Lan when arrested.
The trial was presided over by Judge Pham Luong Toan, Head of the Criminal Court. The Supreme People’s Procuracy assigned ten prosecutors from the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy to prosecute in court.
Truong My Lan faced three charges: embezzlement, bribery, and violating lending regulations of credit institutions. She was defended by five lawyers including Phan Trung Hoai, Phan Minh Hoang, Nguyen Huy Thiep, Giang Hong Thanh, and Truong Thanh Duc.
In response to the press, Mr. Pham Ngoc Duy, Chief of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court Office, stated that the court had connected the two largest courtrooms to handle the case.
In which, Courtroom B1 was arranged for the trial board, the representative of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, and the defendants. The remaining area was reserved for the defendants, lawyers, and parties with rights and obligations, as well as victims.
Many screens are set up in the trial area.
Mr. Duy also added that this trial is phase 1 of the case. In this phase, the focus is on investigating, prosecuting, and trying the defendants involved in acts of embezzlement, violating banking regulations, and other activities related to banking operations; offering bribes, accepting bribes, abusing power and authority while performing official duties… to recover assets and create a basis for phase 2 of the case (which involves violations related to corporate bonds).
Security at the court session was tightened by the Ho Chi Minh City Police. Participants were not allowed to bring phones, laptops, recording devices, or cameras into the courtroom.
The court provided laptops for lawyers and journalists to work during the trial. The court also provided live images of the trial to the Ho Chi Minh City Press Center for reporters.
According to Mr. Duy, because the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court headquarters is currently undergoing renovation in phase 2, the current facilities are only sufficient for defendants, lawyers, parties with rights and obligations, media agencies, and security forces. Therefore, it is not possible to allocate seats for the relatives of the defendants to attend the trial.
According to the indictment issued by the Supreme People’s Procuracy, Truong My Lan, Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group, is indicted on three charges: embezzlement, bribery, and violating lending regulations of credit institutions.
The Criminal Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security accused Truong My Lan, although not holding any position at SCB Bank, of being the mastermind who manipulated the bank’s leadership to help her embezzle more than VND 304 trillion.
According to the indictment issued by the Supreme People’s Procuracy, Truong My Lan, Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group, is indicted on three charges: embezzlement, bribery, and violating lending regulations of credit institutions.
The Criminal Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security accused Truong My Lan, although not holding any position at SCB Bank, of being the mastermind who manipulated the bank’s leadership to help her embezzle more than VND 304 trillion.
The indictment by the Supreme People’s Procuracy states that from 2012 to October 2022, Truong My Lan had acquired and held from 85-91.5% of the shares of SCB Bank. From there, she became a “powerful” shareholder who directed, managed, and manipulated the entire operations of SCB Bank for her various purposes.
The Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group and his accomplices were accused of carrying out a series of actions including selecting and arranging trusted personnel in key positions in SCB Bank, establishing units under SCB Bank specializing in lending and disbursing funds at the request of Truong My Lan, establishing and using thousands of “shell” companies, hiring numerous individuals, colluding with the leaders of many related enterprises to commit crimes.
In addition, Truong My Lan and her accomplices colluded with several appraisal companies to inflate the value of collateral assets; created a large number of fake loan applications to withdraw money from SCB Bank; devised plans to withdraw money and “cut off” the cash flow after disbursing funds; sold bad debts, sold slow-paying credit facilities to reduce credit balances and bad debts, in order to conceal their wrongdoing; bribed, influenced individuals holding positions and powers in state agencies to commit misconduct.
As a result, Truong My Lan and her accomplices, with different positions and roles, committed multiple offenses related to ownership infringement, interference in the operation of the bank, and the proper functioning of state agencies.
In which, the Supreme People’s Procuracy determined that many acts were committed in an organized manner with sophisticated and cunning methods, causing particularly serious consequences, and appropriating and causing significant financial damage.
