On the morning of March 19, the trial of defendant Truong My Lan (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group) and her accomplices entered the stage of accusation and sentencing proposed by the People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City.
The representative of the People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City argued that at the court, defendant Truong My Lan did not show remorse, gave evasive answers, and did not admit to committing the crime. In addition, Lan also blamed the staff and the other defendants at SCB; the consequences of the case were particularly serious, with no possibility of recovery.
Therefore, the representative of the People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City argued that Truong My Lan should be permanently excluded from society.
Defendant Truong My Lan at the trial this morning.
According to the representative of the People’s Procuracy, during the questioning days, it was proven that Truong My Lan took advantage of the restructuring of the bank. After merging three banks, she gradually gained control of SCB’s shares (91.5%) and used SCB as a financial tool to withdraw money from SCB. She also arranged her relatives in key positions at SCB. Truong My Lan used SCB as a financial tool to serve her own interests.
Truong My Lan also directed the establishment of “ghost” companies; colluded with appraisal companies to inflate the value of collateral assets; directed the creation of a large number of fraudulent loan files at SCB; bribed and influenced personnel with positions and authority at the State Bank of Vietnam to hide misconduct at SCB.
“Truong My Lan is the mastermind who caused the extremely serious consequences in this major case, totaling more than 498,000 trillion VND (after subtracting the valuation of assets by Hoang Quan Valuation Company)”, the representative of the People’s Procuracy said.
In which Truong My Lan and the accomplices violated lending regulations, causing damages of over 64,000 trillion VND; misappropriated SCB’s assets, totaling more than 304,000 trillion VND in principal and over 129,000 trillion VND in accrued interest. The damages were calculated by the People’s Procuracy according to the principles that were advantageous to Truong My Lan and the accomplices.
In addition, Truong My Lan met and instructed Vo Tan Hoang Van to bribe Do Thi Nhan (former Director of the Inspection and Supervision Department II) with 5.2 million USD, and gave gifts and money to other members of the inspection delegation to cover up SCB’s weaknesses to avoid special supervision.
Although defendant Lan did not admit to directing Vo Tan Hoang Van to meet and give money to Do Thi Nhan, based on the testimony of defendant Vo Tan Hoang Van, supporting documents, and electronic data, it was evident that Truong My Lan directed Van to meet and bribe defendant Do Thi Nhan.
“Based on this, there is sufficient evidence to determine that defendant Turong My Lan committed the crime of bribery”, the People’s Procuracy analyzed.
The representative of the People’s Procuracy also stated that Truong My Lan had a mitigating circumstance of actively participating in charitable activities. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, she received praise from the President and many other functional agencies; the defendant voluntarily used her assets to compensate for the consequences.
However, the People’s Procuracy also analyzed that Truong My Lan deliberately committed crimes for a long time, using various cunning tactics to commit crimes in an organized manner, more than two times, which aggravated her criminal liability.
