The accused Nguyen Cao Tri in court. Photo: HOANG GIANG
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On the 14th of March, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court continued to try Truong My Lan (former chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group) and 85 other defendants for their wrongdoing at Van Thinh Phat Group, Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB), and related organizations.
In court, the panel of judges asked the representative of SCB (participating in the trial as both a victim of embezzlement and a person with rights and obligations related to banking violations) about certain content in the indictment.
According to the indictment, applying the principle in favor of the defendants, after deducting the value of the collateral, the indictment determined that Lan caused approximately 498,000 trillion Vietnamese dong in damages to SCB.
However, the representative of SCB disagreed with this damage figure. The bank believed that the valuation result was not accurate. Since the case did not have an appraisal board according to the Tangible Assets Valuation Regulations, the valuation must be based on the actual time…
According to SCB, as of the first-instance trial (March 5th, 2024), SCB had suffered damages of over 760,000 trillion Vietnamese dong. Of which, SCB calculated additional interest of over 84,000 trillion Vietnamese dong (this interest amount is tentative and depends on the time SCB receives compensation).
The accused 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 regardless of the legal nature of the mortgaged assets. SCB requested the return of all exhibits. Regarding asset swapping, SCB requested the recovery of 240 swapped assets and other swapped assets transferred to SCB for management. SCB requested the continuation of seizing Lan’s assets and the assets of other defendants, individuals, and related organizations to recover and remedy the consequences and transfer them to SCB for management.
Additionally, SCB demanded clarification of the responsibilities of appraisal companies, requiring these companies to have individuals who are defendants in the case jointly compensate SCB for the damages.
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 said they drew some lessons about policy mechanisms, inspection and supervision regulations, and the need for closer coordination… The State Bank must enhance cooperation with relevant ministries and entities, and better supervise the bank’s activities…
Additionally, the State Bank also believed that based on monitoring the trial, most defendants had sincerely confessed, admitted guilt, actively investigated, had good personal characteristics, and made contributions to the bank. Therefore, they hope the panel of judges considers all circumstances to apply appropriate disciplinary measures, allowing the defendants to enjoy the leniency of the law.
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Wife of Nguyen Cao Tri continues to request remedying the consequences In court, the panel of judges mentioned that the wife of the defendant Nguyen Cao Tri submitted a petition for further remedying the consequences. In court, Tri’s wife continued to request an additional remedy of 266 billion Vietnamese dong in cash in this case. Tri argued that some of his accounts were frozen, and some debtors owed him money, so he requested the panel of judges’ support to remedy the consequences. The panel of judges also acknowledged Tri and his wife’s good faith in wanting to remedy the consequences. At the same time, the panel of judges explained that the remedy must be implemented before the panel of judges pronounce the verdict, and in the case of frozen accounts, they could report to the investigating agency for support in remedying the consequences. In this case, Tri was accused of taking advantage of Lan’s arrest, using deceptive methods to instruct staff to establish and complete documents on liquidating transfer contracts and liquidating investment trust contracts to erase the debt obligations, in order to misappropriate the 1,000 trillion Vietnamese dong he had received from Lan. Tri has recovered over 800 trillion Vietnamese dong and has had several properties confiscated… |
YEN CHAU-HUU DANG
