At the appeal trial of the first phase of the Van Thinh Phat case, which is taking place today (November 15), the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City High-Level People’s Procuracy participating in the trial has put forward the opinion to resolve the appeal of the accused, Chu Lap Co (husband of Truong My Lan – Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group).
Chu Lap Co at the trial on November 15. Photo: Tan Chau
According to the representative of the Procuracy, the defendant, Chu Lap Co, was sentenced by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court of First Instance to nine years in prison for “Violating regulations on lending in the operation of credit institutions.”
After the first-instance trial announced the verdict, Mr. Chu Lap Co appealed in accordance with the law. At the appeal trial, Mr. Co maintained his appeal and requested the appellate court to consider reducing his sentence.
Mr. Chu Lap Co presented the following mitigating circumstances: the first-instance court’s sentence of nine years’ imprisonment for him was too harsh. Mr. Co is a foreigner with limited understanding of the law. Mr. Co played a secondary role in the offense.
In addition, the representative of the Procuracy also said that Chu Lap Co had paid an additional 2.5 billion VND to compensate for the damage. This amount was paid after the first-instance court had announced the verdict.
According to the representative of the Procuracy, these grounds are sufficient to consider reducing the sentence in accordance with Mr. Co’s appeal. Therefore, the representative of the Procuracy proposed that the appellate court reduce Mr. Chu Lap Co’s sentence from nine years to seven or eight years in prison.
Truong My Lan at the trial on November 15. Photo: Tan Chau
Mr. Chu Lap Co’s wrongdoing showed that he owned 99.26% of the shares of Times Square Vietnam Joint Stock Company and had a decisive voice in the company.
Mr. Chu Lap Co twice signed the minutes of the Board of Directors, agreeing to mortgage the assets of Times Square Company to guarantee 73 loans. Subsequently, SCB Bank disbursed the loans, and Truong My Lan used the money for purposes other than the agreed purpose, causing a loss of 9.116 billion VND to SCB Bank.
In addition to this case, on October 17, Mr. Chu Lap Co was sentenced by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court of First Instance to two years in prison for “Money laundering.” This was the lowest sentence among the 34 defendants in the second phase of the case.
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