Withdrawing
1,066,600 trillion VND from SCB
Tomorrow (11/3), the first-instance trial is expected to continue with the questioning of defendant Truong My Lan and 85 other defendants in the Vinh Thinh Phat case, Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB), and related units. Truong My Lan – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group and Nguyen Cao Tri – former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Lang Education Investment and Management Company, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Capella Company will be questioned at the trial.
Truong My Lan is accused of three charges at the same time: “Embezzlement of property”, “Bribery”, and “Violation of regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions”.
Truong My Lan will be questioned by the panel of judges at tomorrow’s trial (11/3).
To serve her illegal activities, Truong My Lan has established and developed more than 1,000 businesses including subsidiaries and affiliated companies in and outside the country, which are divided into many layers, with Van Thinh Phat Group playing a central role, holding shares and controlling the entire operations of the companies in the ecosystem, and usually not directly participating in business activities.
According to the indictment, from 2012 to October 2022, Truong My Lan had acquired and controlled nearly absolute ownership of SCB shares (from 85% to 91.5% of the shares). Thereby, Lan manipulated all the activities of SCB to serve her different purposes.
The investigating agency determined that from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2017, Lan had directed the falsification of 368 loan files to withdraw money from SCB for various purposes.
Specifically, from 2012 to October 2022, Lan had directed the falsification of documents and SCB had disbursed more than 2,500 amounts to her group (1,000 for individuals and 1,500 for organizations) totaling more than 1,066,600 trillion VND. When disbursing, SCB would transfer the borrowed capital to individuals or legal entities according to the loan plan.
As of the time of the indictment in October 2022, the Lan’s group still had 1,284 loans with an outstanding balance of 677,200 trillion VND, including 483,900 trillion VND of principal and 193,300 trillion VND of interest. The principal accounted for 93% of the total principal of more than 23,000 outstanding loans at SCB. Currently, these loans have no recovery capability.
It is worth noting that the amount of 1,066,600 trillion VND is the accumulated sum, so the functional agencies only trace the money flow of 1,284 loan accounts. These loans still had outstanding principal of 483,900 trillion VND, but in reality, when disbursed, the SCB actually disbursed 525,400 trillion VND.
Of the 525,400 trillion VND disbursed from 1,284 loans, Lan had transferred 57,000 trillion VND out of the SCB system, withdrawn 81,800 trillion VND in cash, repaid old loans at SCB totaling 57,000 trillion VND, transferred internally within SCB 5,200 trillion VND. Thus, the money transferred out of the SCB system and the cash withdrawn by Lan accounted for 88% of the total disbursed amount.
With the above amount, Truong My Lan used it to repay the money used to buy real estate, buy project shares, and use for many other personal purposes.
How was the cash withdrawn?
When the money was withdrawn from the bank, Lan would instruct her subordinates to transfer money from the disbursed company to the accounts of “ghost” legal entities or individuals. When needed, Lan requested the money to be transferred among companies within the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem to avoid being audited.
Truong My Lan withdrew the amount of 1,066,600 trillion VND from SCB.
If she needed cash, Lan would instruct her staff to carry out fraudulent procedures to produce legitimate documents for cash withdrawals. Cash would be taken out of SCB, and Lan would instruct the driver to bring it back to her private residence at Sherwood Building (127 Pasteur, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) or the head office of Van Thinh Phat Group (193 – 203 Tran Hung Dao, Ho Chi Minh City).
From February 2019 to September 2022, the driver transported 108,000 trillion VND and 14.7 million USD (about 355 billion VND) in cash from SCB to Lan’s home or the headquarters of Van Thinh Phat Group. Many times, Lan instructed her driver to hand it to someone.
Truong My Lan was accused of the crime of embezzlement, taking more than 304,000 trillion VND from SCB. This crime also caused more than 129,000 trillion VND of interest to be incurred.
The Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group was also accused of violating regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions, causing more than 64,000 trillion VND in damage to SCB.
The third charge against Lan is bribery. To suppress wrongdoings at SCB, Lan directed high-ranking personnel of SCB to give money and gifts to members of the inspection team, with a total amount of hundreds of billion VND.
