On the afternoon of March 14, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City continued to trial defendant Truong My Lan (former chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group) and 85 other defendants for misconduct that occurred at Van Thinh Phat Group, Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB), and related organizations.
Defendant Nguyen Cao Tri in court. Photo: HOANG GIANG
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In court, the panel of judges asked the representative of SCB (participating as a victim in terms of embezzlement and as a person with related rights and obligations in terms of banking violations) about some content in the indictment.
According to the indictment, applying a principle that is advantageous to the defendants, after deducting the value of collateral assets, the indictment determined that defendant Lan caused approximately 498,000 trillion Vietnamese dong in damages to SCB.
However, the representative of SCB disagrees with this amount of damages. The bank believes that the valuation result is not accurate, and the case does not have an appraisal council under the Securities Law, so the price must be based on the actual time…
According to SCB, as of the date of the trial (March 5, 2024), SCB suffered damages of over 760,000 trillion Vietnamese dong. In this amount, SCB also calculates additional accrued interest of over 84,000 trillion Vietnamese dong (this interest amount is a tentative calculation and depends on the time SCB receives compensation).
Defendant Truong My Lan in court. Photo: HOANG GIANG
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In court, SCB also requested full authority to manage and use 1,166 collateral assets without relying on the legal status of the collateral assets, and requested the return of all evidence to SCB. Regarding the exchange of assets, SCB also requested the recovery of 240 exchanged assets and other exchanged assets transferred to SCB for management. Continue to seize the assets of defendant Lan and other defendants, individuals, and organizations affiliated with the case, to recover and remediate the consequences, and transfer them to SCB for management.
In addition, SCB also requested clarification of the responsibilities of the appraisal companies, and forced the appraisal companies with individuals who are defendants in the case to be jointly liable for compensating the damages to SCB.
In court, the panel of judges asked the State Bank about the lessons learned from the case.
In response, the representative of the State Bank stated that they have drawn some lessons about policy mechanisms, inspection and supervision regulations, and the need for closer coordination… The State Bank must enhance coordination with ministries and relevant units, and better supervise the activities of banks…
In addition, the State Bank also believes that based on monitoring the proceedings, most defendants have sincerely declared, admitted their guilt, actively investigated, have good personal backgrounds, and have made significant contributions to the bank, so they hope that the panel of judges will consider all the circumstances to apply appropriate penalties and grant them the leniency of the law.
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Wife of Nguyen Cao Tri continues to request redress In court, the panel of judges informed that the wife of defendant Nguyen Cao Tri submitted a request for additional redress. In court, the wife of defendant Tri continued to request an additional compensation of 266 billion VND in cash in this case. Defendant Tri believes that some of his accounts have been frozen and some individuals owe him money, so he requests the panel of judges to support him in remedying the consequences. The panel of judges also acknowledged the goodwill of defendant Tri and his wife in wanting to rectify the consequences. At the same time, the panel of judges explained that the redress must be carried out before the court pronounces the judgment, and regarding the frozen accounts, it can be reported to the investigating agency to support the redress. In this case, defendant Tri is accused of taking advantage of the arrest of Ms. Lan, and used deceptive methods to instruct employees to create and complete liquidation files for transfer contracts and investment trust contracts in order to eliminate debt obligations, with the aim of appropriating 1,000 trillion VND that he received from Ms. Lan. Defendant Tri has recovered more than 800 billion VND and has had some real estate properties confiscated… |
YEN CHAU-HUU DANG
