On March 6th, the trial of Ms. Truong My Lan and 85 other defendants entered its second day of proceedings.
Prior to that, the chairperson Pham Luong Toan announced that the court would work on both Saturday and Sunday to ensure the progress of the trial.
Lawyer Phan Trung Hoai (representing Ms. Truong My Lan) requested the court to allow the defendants to sit during the trial due to health issues.
In addition, due to the majority of the defendants being related to phase 2 of the case, lawyers joined for a relatively short period of time, so the lawyers asked the court to facilitate their access to the defendants.
Furthermore, many lawyers requested the court to allow them to participate in questioning the witnesses to facilitate the defendants and enable them to continue to mitigate the consequences.
On the second day of the trial, the representative of the Supreme People’s Procuracy continued to announce the indictment against the defendants.
The procuracy determined that the wrongdoings of Ms. Truong My Lan caused damages to SCB Bank amounting to over 304 trillion VND. These wrongdoings of Ms. Lan were supported by her subordinates and especially by the assistance of her husband and niece.
Mr. Chu Lap Co (husband of Ms. Truong My Lan) used to be the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Times Square Investment Joint Stock Company, holding up to 99.26% of the company’s shares.
 Defendant Truong My Lan |
According to the allegations of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, in 2012, under the guidance of Ms. Truong My Lan, Mr. Chu Lap Co prepared loan applications at SCB Bank to restructure bad debts. The couple unanimously used the assets of Times Square project (the right to use leased land and future assets associated with the leased land which are complex of office – hotel – high-class apartment – Times Square Commercial center) to secure the loans.
 Defendant Chu Lap Co |
On December 10th, 2012, Mr. Chu Lap Co signed the minutes of the shareholders’ general meeting of Times Square Company, approving the collateralizing of assets to guarantee the loans for individuals and organizations designated by Ms. Truong My Lan.
From December 2012 to December 2014, Mr. Chu Lap Co helped Ms. Truong My Lan legitimize fabricated loan applications and disburse the loans at SCB Bank for 73 loans of 67 clients. The total amount disbursed by the bank was nearly 30 trillion VND, with a loan term of 5 years. All of this money was used for Ms. Lan’s personal purposes.
By 2017, since the loan plan was fabricated, the loans were only used to pay off bad debts, there was no source to recover the principal and interest, and the loans became due and impossible to repay. Ms. Lan convinced her husband to sign the minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of Times Square Joint Stock Company to continue using the company’s assets as collateral to ensure the obligation to pay the loans for 54 clients. This was aimed at extending the loans currently owed to SCB Bank.
The investigators determined that Mr. Chu Lap Co assisted his wife in withdrawing money, causing damages to SCB Bank worth over 9.116 trillion VND.
As a blood relative, defendant Truong Hue Van was trusted by Ms. Truong My Lan and considered as her most reliable right-hand person.
Defendant Truong Hue Van |
Truong Hue Van was entrusted by Ms. Lan to hold the position of General Director of Van Thinh Phat Investment Joint Stock Company and manage various other companies within the Van Thinh Phat Group, such as the General Director of Windsor Real Estate Management Corporation, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eurasia Concept Joint Stock Company, and in charge of the operations of Lavifood Joint Stock Company, Tanifood Company, and Saigon Galleria Joint Stock Company.
With the position entrusted, following the guidance of Ms. Truong My Lan, Truong Hue Van established 52 “ghost” companies, created 155 fabricated loan applications to withdraw money from SCB Bank.
Truong Hue Van was identified as an accomplice who helped Truong My Lan misappropriate over 1 trillion VND from SCB Bank. With this behavior, Hue Van was indicted by the Supreme People’s Procuracy for the crime of “Embezzlement of property”.
Thanh Phuong
