SCB Executives Sentenced for Corruption and Misappropriation
On April 11th, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced Truong My Lan to death for three charges: “Embezzlement”, “Bribery”, and “Violation of Regulations on Lending in Credit Organizations’ Operations”.
Defendant Do Thi Nhan received life imprisonment for “Bribery”, while Chu Lap Co was sentenced to eight years in prison and Truong Hue Van to 17 years. Other defendants in the case also received proportionate sentences for their crimes.
Call for Clarification of Auditing Firms’ Roles Involving SCB
In addition to the announced sentences, through examining this case and other recent cases, the collegiate panel noticed a pattern of exploiting loose legal policies in business establishment licensing to commit acts such as: establishing companies without business operations, tax evasion, leasing nominee directors, and overlapping investment members…
These acts pose challenges to authorities, making it difficult to detect wrongdoing.
Defendant Truong My Lan. Photo: Hue EX |
The ease of business establishment was one of the methods defendants used to commit their crimes. Therefore, the collegiate panel recommends that the Government strengthen business management, conduct due diligence and post-audits, and prevent the establishment of companies for illegal purposes.
The collegiate panel also noticed that during the trial of the case at SCB and Dong A Bank, many loopholes in auditing work were revealed. Accordingly, banks have reported no irregularities for years, but when a case occurs, negative equity is discovered. In this case, SCB hired large auditing firms, but the results did not reveal any irregularities.
Therefore, the collegiate panel recommends enhancing the management role in State auditing and auditing in banks to ensure financial transparency.
 Defendants in court. Photo: Anh Tu |
The collegiate panel requested that the C03 Department (Ministry of Public Security) and the Supreme People’s Procuracy clarify the roles of auditing companies at SCB, related auditing units, and if there is a basis, handle them according to regulations.
Continued Verification of Other Assets
During the case’s resolution, the collegiate panel collected notebooks of Ms. Truong My Lan’s assistants, which showed the amount of 108,000 billion VND and 14.7 million USD transported to the Van Thinh Phat building, not only from SCB but also from bond sources.
Therefore, the collegiate panel requested that the C03 Department and the Supreme People’s Procuracy, during the expanded investigation of the case, continue to clarify the wrongdoing surrounding this amount to serve as a basis for resolution in phase 2.
According to the collegiate panel, the defendant Truong My Lan invested and transferred many projects with funds from SCB that are currently under lien and lack clear legal documentation. Therefore, the collegiate panel recommends that the investigating agency continue to clarify the real estate and projects related to the defendant that have not been resolved in this case to determine the true nature and handle them according to legal regulations, ensuring the attachment compensates for damages.
Simultaneously, the collegiate panel also requested that the C03 Department and the Supreme People’s Procuracy, during phase 2 of the case’s investigation, continue to verify and clarify the assets of five wanted defendants related to defendant Truong My Lan’s crimes. This is to provide a basis for consideration and resolution in phase 2 of the case.
Regarding the request of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Company to remove the attachment from six projects related to defendant Truong My Lan, the collegiate panel requires the company to pay more than 2,882 billion VND to ensure the enforcement of the judgment against defendant Lan.
Thanh Phuong
