On February 13, the trial of the case at Van Thinh Phat Corporation entered its 7th working day.
The defense lawyers continued questioning the defendants. Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau, who defended Bui Anh Dung (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCB Bank), asked the defendant Truong My Lan why she appointed Bui Anh Dung as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCB Bank, but defendant Lan denied the decision to appoint Dung as the chairman of the board of directors.
The lawyer quoted Lan’s statement to the investigating agency in 2019, when Dinh Van Thanh (the current Chairman of the Board of Directors) took his wife and children abroad for medical treatment, Lan recommended that Dung temporarily serve as the chairman of the board of directors and Lan agreed.
Defendant Truong My Lan
The lawyer also quoted Dung’s statement about being rewarded by Lan with 20 billion VND in 2020 and 20 billion VND in 2021.
Defendant Lan replied that she doesn’t remember if it was 2 billion or 20 billion VND and explained that it was not a Lunar New Year bonus. According to Lan, when Dung served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCB Bank, his wife and children were also employees of SCB Bank. Some people in the company commented to her about the issue of the chairman’s spouse working in the bank, which Lan found “a bit strange”.
Lan said she also felt uneasy about it. In order to avoid chaos in SCB Bank, she gave money to Dung and said: “If the family is in difficulty, use this money to take care of your wife and children, to ensure a stable life for your family. What has Bui Anh Dung accomplished? I haven’t relied on him for anything!” – defendant Lan replied to the lawyer.
The defendants in court
Defendant Bui Anh Dung stated that he worked at Tien Nghia Commercial Joint Stock Bank since May 2009. After the merger of this bank with two other banks to form SCB Bank, he continued to work and held various positions. Before Dinh Van Thanh went abroad, Dung served as Deputy General Director in charge of the Enterprise Block.
At the time Dung was preparing to take over as Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCB Bank, he did not know that the State Bank had conducted inspections at the branches of SCB Bank and discovered many violations, so he took on the new position. At this time, Dung did not receive a salary, only received a fee of about 180 million VND/month.
The lawyer representing defendant Truong Khanh Hoang (former General Director of SCB Bank) also questioned defendant Truong My Lan.
According to the accusation, defendant Truong Khanh Hoang was one of the leaders of SCB Bank who actively assisted defendant Truong My Lan in withdrawing money from the bank. Therefore, defendant Hoang received a very high salary from Lan, ranging from 130 million to 500 million VND/month, and received an approximately 5 billion VND Lunar New Year bonus. Defendant Hoang was also given 300,000 SCB shares (equivalent to 3 billion VND) in 2021 and 10 million shares (equivalent to 100 billion VND at face value) in July 2022 by defendant Truong My Lan.
Regarding this issue, in response to the lawyer, defendant Lan claimed that giving shares and money to defendant Hoang had no particular purpose. In addition to defendant Hoang, Lan also gave shares and money to all employees and leaders of SCB Bank because she saw their hard work and dedication.
The lawyer asked if the bank’s leadership reviewed the amount of money and shares that Lan took. Lan replied that she only remembered that she gave it to Hoang, but she didn’t remember if it needed any approval. Lan added that this money came from her. The lawyer requested proof, and Lan replied: “I don’t need to prove it because it’s very small compared to me.”
Previously, in response to the lawyer’s question about the “liquidation” of the money that SCB Bank disbursed to companies in the Van Thinh Phat Group ecosystem, defendant Ho Buu Phuong (former Deputy General Director of Finance of the Van Thinh Phat Group) said that “liquidation” had long been a “practice” of the company, and if the money was not liquidated, it could not be withdrawn.
According to the accusation, the defendants “liquidated” the money by establishing fictitious share transfer contracts, in which “ghost” companies received the disbursed money in exchange for promising to buy shares of other “ghost” companies (owned by individuals hired to hold shares of the other “ghost” companies).
After signing the contracts, the individuals would go to SCB Bank to sign money withdrawal documents. The receiving companies only accounted for the promised share purchase in the “receivables” category, without going through the procedures for transfer and share ownership, so no taxes were incurred, avoiding detection of violations by the tax authorities.
Defendant Ho Buu Phuong said that he understood “liquidation” as taking the company’s money out of the company but then returning it. However, he admitted that he was not responsible for monitoring whether the money returned or not.
Defendant Truong My Lan told the lawyer that defendant Ho Buu Phuong did not know anything about disbursement or liquidation. Ho Buu Phuong’s job was to follow the instructions of Nguyen Phuong Hong (former Deputy General Director of SCB Bank). Lan said that at the time, she told Ho Buu Phuong: “Assist Phuong Hong in whatever she needs, support SCB Bank.”
Meanwhile, the lawyer quoted Ho Buu Phuong’s statement, which showed that when he met defendant Truong My Lan, Truong My Lan directed Ho Buu Phuong to support SCB Bank in the “liquidation” process.
