On March 11, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City continued the trial of Truong My Lan and her accomplices.
After being absent from the court for 4 days, defendant Nguyen Cao Tri was brought to the court this morning to clarify the act of “Abusing trust for misappropriation of assets.”
In response to the questioning of the High Court Panel, defendant Nguyen Cao Tri admitted to the acts as indicted.
Defendant Nguyen Cao Tri. Photo: Nguyen Hue |
Defendant Tri testified that he became acquainted with Truong My Lan in late 2017. Later, when they collaborated, Lan transferred about 807 billion dong to him. However, in January 2021, when they sat down to discuss the fees, the rounded amount Lan transferred was 1,000 billion dong.
According to Tri’s testimony, after receiving information that Truong My Lan had been arrested, he was very confused because he feared that if an incident occurred, there would be a risk of doubling the amount Lan had transferred. In addition, he was concerned about the risk for Lan, as she relied on a broker’s name rather than being named on the contract.
“At that time, I was thinking of publicly revealing Lan’s name to benefit her. I also wanted to separate from Lan’s system, so I made a decision that led to misconduct. In terms of subjective thinking, I didn’t think my actions amounted to misappropriation of Lan’s money.
Before being indicted, I knew that what I did was wrong, and I wanted to return the money to Lan many times, but it was not accepted. After being indicted, I returned over 800 billion and had more than 300 billion in assets frozen. At this trial, I hope to continue to use cash to fully compensate Lan,” Tri confessed about his actions.
According to Tri’s testimony, the people who directed the liquidation of contracts with Lan did not know the purpose of this activity.
In this case, Truong My Lan is the victim when Nguyen Cao Tri misappropriated 1,000 billion dong. Photo: Nguyen Hue |
In court, Tri requested the assistance of the High Court Panel and the investigative agency in recovering the amount of 1,500 billion dong owed by 400 individuals and businesses. However, the High Court Panel announced that the debt recovery falls within the jurisdiction of another case, and Tri can request the investigative agency to handle it.
When confronted in court, Truong My Lan testified that her relationship with Tri was as friends helping each other.
“When I was arrested, I didn’t know what was going on. I am very grateful to the investigating agency for uncovering how Nguyen Cao Tri misappropriated my money. However, he has since rectified the consequences, and I have no objection. I hope the High Court Panel will consider mitigating his sentence,” Truong My Lan said.
According to the indictment, from 2017-2020, Truong My Lan collaborated with Nguyen Cao Tri to invest in projects and buy shares of Tri’s companies. Among them was an agreement to transfer 65% of the charter capital of an industrial rubber company for 45 million USD. Later, Lan paid Tri 21.25 million USD, equivalent to over 476 billion dong, to buy 31.22% of Tri’s charter capital.
Since the shares of the industrial rubber company had not been transferred within 5 years, Tri and Lan agreed to sign an “investment delegation contract,” with Ho Quoc Minh (a friend and broker of Lan) named as the owner in the contract.
Furthermore, Lan agreed to purchase 100% of the charter capital of Saigon Dai Ninh Company for a value of 3,000 billion dong. Lan made a deposit and transferred money to Tri five times, totaling 20 million USD (equivalent to over 463 billion dong).
In addition, Tri and Lan agreed to have Lan participate in a project in Hai Ha district, Quang Ninh province, and pay money according to the incurred costs. Lan made two payments to Tri, totaling 9.5 million USD (equivalent to over 220 billion dong).
In January 2021, Tri met with Lan to finalize the investments, totaling 1,000 billion dong, that Tri had received. To ensure trust and confidence, Tri agreed to transfer 10% of the charter capital of Van Lang Company to Lan and agreed to let Ho Quoc Minh own the shares. This transfer was not recorded in the accounting system.
The total amount that Tri received from Lan through multiple collaborations was 1,000 billion dong. However, after Lan was arrested, Tri drafted price adjustment and liquidation documents for the entire contract of transferring 10% of the charter capital of Van Lang Company that had been signed with Lan, misappropriating 1,000 billion dong.
Thanh Phuong
