On the morning of November 5, the Ho Chi Minh City High-Level People’s Court continued the appellate trial for 48 of the 86 accused in the Van Thinh Phat case, phase 1, including Vo Tan Hoang Van, former general director of Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB). Van was convicted of two charges: “Embezzlement of property” and “Violation of regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions,” and sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to the first-instance verdict, whenever she needed money, Truong My Lan, the former chairwoman of the Van Thinh Phat Group, would call Van to arrange for withdrawals from SCB through loans. Lan instructed SCB to disburse these loans for purposes such as repaying old debts, settling loans at other banks, and investing in new projects, contrary to the plans stated in the loan applications.

Other defendants in court

In his appeal, Van requested a reduced sentence, asking the court to reconsider his role and the context in which the crimes were committed. He revealed that the cost of restructuring SCB amounted to VND 20,000-25,000 billion annually, including operating expenses and capital mobilization costs. During this process, Lan provided assets to SCB as loan collateral but lacked the financial resources to repay the debts when they fell due.

Van denied receiving instructions from Lan, explaining that SCB approved the loans to protect the fragile achievements of the restructuring process, leading to lax approval processes and the bypassing of necessary procedures to avoid an increase in bad debts. As a result, a cycle of debt refinancing occurred over the years, creating a spiraling effect that caused the debt to balloon out of control, like a “flood that swept away everything” and leading to the current situation.

Van confessed that this explained why he and his accomplices, despite their qualifications and positions, committed such violations without personal gain.

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