The Extravagant Spending Spree: Unraveling the Scandal of Trương Mỹ Lan’s Alleged Coercion of Her Husband to Blow Tens of Billions on SCB Bank Cards

On September 25, the trial of Truong My Lan and 33 other defendants in the second phase of the Van Thinh Phat case continued with the examination phase regarding money laundering. The representative of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy questioned Chu Lap Co, Lan’s husband, about the opening and use of credit cards at SCB Bank.

The defendant stated that he could not remember exactly how many cards he had opened at SCB from 2018 to 2022, but according to the indictment, there were three Visa and Master cards used with a maximum limit of approximately 10 billion VND. Chu Lap Co said he could not recall the monthly spending amount and did not know the source of the funds deposited into the cards until he read the indictment and found out that his wife had directed her employees to deposit the money.

The indictment clearly states that from 2018 to October 7, 2022, Chu Lap Co had used more than 33 billion VND from the credit cards, with the money coming from Truong My Lan’s criminal activities. Co admitted that he was aware that his wife had directed her employees to deposit money into the cards. Based on the investigation documents, the authorities determined that he had colluded with Truong My Lan to legalize and utilize this money.

Meanwhile, defendant Truong My Lan requested a correction, stating that SCB Bank had only issued two Visa and Master cards to Chu Lap Co, not three: “He used them only because I forced him to. He had no knowledge whatsoever, and when the SCB cards expired, they would be replaced with new ones.”

Truong My Lan expressed her desire for the other defendants, especially Tran Thi My Dung (Deputy General Director of SCB), to confirm this information and requested the judge to clarify why a single act of hers resulted in four separate charges. She asserted her innocence regarding the embezzlement charge in the first phase of the case.

“I never thought that I would end up in such a dire situation today. How could an embezzler have all their assets held by SCB Bank? How could an embezzler not have a single penny?”, Lan pleaded.

Previously, in response to the prosecutor’s question: “Why did you, as the Deputy General Director of SCB Bank, have to seek Truong My Lan’s approval to transfer the money?”, defendant Tran Thi My Dung explained that when she assumed the position of Deputy General Director, she was handed over the tasks previously managed by Nguyen Phuong Hong (member of the Board of Directors and former Deputy General Director of SCB Bank). Hong instructed her to directly contact Truong My Lan to handle work-related matters.

Aware of Lan’s influence at SCB Bank, Dung sought her approval before transferring the funds. Dung affirmed that she would not have executed these transactions without Lan’s directives.

According to the charges, Tran Thi My Dung instructed Nguyen Phuong Anh to collaborate with SCB Bank branches to utilize the funds as directed by Truong My Lan. This money was used to repay loans of companies under the Van Thinh Phat Group at SCB Bank, fund Lan’s projects and personal purposes, and settle debts with banks outside the SCB system.

Dung’s actions aided Truong My Lan in concealing and utilizing the embezzled funds from SCB Bank, amounting to 69,000 billion VND, through the crime of embezzlement.