On the afternoon of March 5th, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court continued the trial of Truong My Lan (Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group) and other defendants involved in the case at Van Thinh Phat Group and SCB Bank.
At 2:40 PM, the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Procuracy announced a 160-page long indictment. The indictment detailed the methods and tactics used by Truong My Lan and her accomplices to embezzle 1 million trillion VND from SCB Bank.
Overview of the trial of Van Thinh Phat case on March 5th.
Acquiring SCB shares
According to the indictment, Truong My Lan is the Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group, which includes over 1,000 subsidiary and affiliate companies. In order to have a large source of capital to support the activities of the company system, as well as continuous investment and acquisition of real estate projects, Truong My Lan sought to acquire, control, and oversee all activities of SCB Bank, including lending activities.
By purchasing shares and having others stand as nominees, Truong My Lan owns 91.545% of the charter capital of SCB. These shares are held by 27 legal entities and individuals on behalf of Truong My Lan. She does not appear directly and only owns 4.982% of the charter capital.
Installing personnel to control SCB operations
Truong My Lan carefully selected and appointed trusted individuals to key positions at SCB Bank, offering high salaries ranging from 200 to 500 million VND per month or giving bonuses and shares of SCB Bank. Through these individuals, Truong My Lan controlled all activities of SCB Bank, including lending operations.
By acquiring and holding shares, Truong My Lan used SCB Bank as a financial tool, mobilizing deposits and capital from various sources, and then directing withdrawals by creating fraudulent loans for personal purposes.
Defendant Truong My Lan.
Establishing subsidiary units for lending and disbursement as required
To avoid the control of the State Bank branch in Ho Chi Minh City, since 2020, Truong My Lan instructed the senior management of SCB Bank to establish three lending units solely for the purpose of serving loan requests from the Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group.
These units include the Wholesale Customer Business Center, the Direct Business Channel under the Business Enterprises Division (with a subordinate unit called the Direct Business Hub for corporate customers), and the Direct Business Channel under the Personal Banking and Financial Services Division (with a subordinate unit called the Hub for Real Estate Loans in Ho Chi Minh City 2).
All three units have lending functions like branches, but they are managed and operated by the headquarters of SCB Bank, without separate treasury departments and seals, using the seals of other units.
From June 3, 2020, to June 24, 2022, these three lending units created records and disbursed 396 loans with a total outstanding balance of 212,725 trillion VND.
Establishing “shell” companies to obtain fraudulent loans and withdraw funds from SCB Bank
Truong My Lan instructed her subordinates to establish “shell” companies or hire individuals to act as nominees for loan applications, shareholding, asset collateral, and signing withdrawal documents. The purpose was to create records for fraudulent loans and withdrawals from SCB Bank.
The establishment process of a “shell” company includes naming, finding a registered address, hiring a legally representative person, shareholders, company members, selecting business sectors, and more.
The investigation determined that there were 875 customers, including 440 individuals and 435 legal entities, named in 1,284 loan records, established, hired, or used as nominees under the direction of Truong My Lan.
Defendant Truong Hue Van.
Colluding with company valuation firms
To withdraw money from SCB Bank through fraudulent loan applications, Truong My Lan instructed SCB Bank officials to collude with various valuation firms to manipulate asset prices, falsify dates, and issue legal valuation certificates for loan applications.
SCB Bank hired 19 valuation firms, with 46 individuals including directors, deputy directors, appraisers, and staff involved in issuing 378 certificates related to the outstanding loan balance of Truong My Lan’s group.
Withdrawing and concealing funds after disbursement
To legitimately withdraw money from SCB Bank, Truong My Lan instructed her subordinates to create “fund disbursement” plans by signing fake transfer of shares contracts. The purpose of this scheme was to cut off and conceal the flow of funds, avoid detection and handling by relevant authorities, and evade tax obligations.
Truong My Lan also required hired individuals who stood as recipients of loans and shareholders to come to SCB Bank to sign withdrawal documents and deposit money to erase traces of criminal activity.
Defendant Do Thi Nhan.
Selling bad debts
When the fraudulent loans at SCB Bank became overdue and had to be classified as non-performing loans, while credit growth was limited, Truong My Lan not only refused to repay the debts but also instructed her accomplices to sell bad debts to the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) and sell delayed repayment debts to the “shell” companies established by Van Thinh Phat group.
Bribing officials to cover up wrongdoings
In order to cover up the crimes when being inspected and audited, Truong My Lan instructed key executives of SCB Bank to bribe officials and leaders of the State Bank Inspection and Supervisory Agency (State Bank of Vietnam), the State Bank branch in Ho Chi Minh City, and the enhanced supervisory team at SCB Bank.
Bribing officials was aimed at concealing misconduct at SCB Bank and influencing dishonest inspection and audit reports.
In particular, Truong My Lan bribed Do Thi Nhan, former Director of the Inspection and Supervision Department II (State Bank of Vietnam), the head of the inspection team, with 5.2 million USD (equivalent to 118 billion VND).
Before the trial, the family members of the 10 defendants paid nearly 6.2 billion VND to remedy the case.
Specifically, the family of Bui Anh Dung, former Chairman of the SCB Board of Directors, paid 4.5 billion VND; the family of Phan Tan Trung, former Deputy Chief Inspector of the State Bank branch in Ho Chi Minh City, paid 546 million VND; Nguyen Thanh Tung, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dong Phuong Oil and Gas Joint Stock Company, paid 500 million VND.
The families of Tran Thi Kim Chi, former employee of Natural Land Joint Stock Company, and Luu Chan Nguyen, former Director of the Bay Hien SCB Trading Department, each paid 30 million VND per defendant.
Pham Manh Cuong, former Director of the SCB Re-examination Department, and Cao Viet Dung, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tuong Viet Trade and Production LLC, each paid 200 million VND per person. Bui Nhan, former Deputy General Director of SCB, paid 70 million VND; Bui Duc Khoa, former Deputy General Director of Natural Land Joint Stock Company, and Tran Hoang Giang, former Credit Approval Division Deputy Director of SCB, each paid 50 million VND.
