During the 4-day trial of the Van Thinh Phat case (from March 5th), the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City interrogated 77 out of the 86 defendants present in the trial (5 defendants were wanted, and 2 defendants requested absence).
Therefore, there are only 2 defendants left to be questioned, Truong My Lan (born in 1956) and Nguyen Cao Tri (born in 1970; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Capella Company).
Today, Judge, the presiding judge of the trial, Pham Luong Toan questioned these defendants, and then it will be the turn of other members of the People’s High Court, the Ho Chi Minh City Procuracy (exercising the right to prosecute and supervise the trial), and the lawyers participating
The 77 defendants that have been interrogated include former leaders and staff of SCB Bank over different periods, former officials of the Government Inspectorate, former officials of the State Audit and former leaders and staff of companies in the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem.
Defendant Truong My Lan
All of these defendants admitted to actively assisting defendant Truong My Lan in embezzling more than 304 trillion VND from SCB Bank as stated in the indictment.
Among them, some former leaders of SCB Bank stated that when they noticed the existing offenses at the bank, they had to submit resignations multiple times for a long period of time before they were accepted.
For example, defendant Nguyen Huynh Lan Chi (former head of the Bank SCB’s Reassessment Department) stated that when monitoring and seeing the continuous increase in the bank’s debt, she realized that the loan files needed to be re-examined. As she did not get consent, she submitted resignation letters twice starting from 2017. Since February 2018, she has firmly refused to sign any documents. In August 2018, she was considered for resignation.
Defendant Vo Trieu Lan (born in 1968; former director of SCB Bank’s Cho Lon Branch) stated that in the spirit of participating in the restructuring of SCB Bank, he made efforts to contribute. However, when he realized that the loan documents he signed were only legitimate disbursement files for borrowers to use inappropriately, since 2015, he has refused to sign any documents. However, not until October 2023 was he allowed to leave his position.
According to the findings of the authorities, during the period of legitimate signing of these loan contracts (from July 17, 2013, to October 29, 2015), defendant Lan signed 35 reassessment proposals approving 18 customers who are individuals in the Van Thinh Phat Group to borrow 35 amounts from SCB Bank. When they were indicted, these loans had a total outstanding balance of up to 12.7 trillion VND.
Some individuals rewarded by defendant Truong My Lan during Tet and Lunar New Year received several billion to over 20 billion VND, stating that “they were rewarded for doing their job well.”
Defendant Nguyen Cao Tri
As for defendant Nguyen Cao Tri, the presiding judge had previously accepted the proposal of defendant Nguyen Cao Tri and his lawyer for him to be absent from the trial sessions not related to the content of his case.
According to the accusations by the Supreme People’s Procuracy, defendant Nguyen Cao Tri agreed to and received over 1 trillion VND from Truong My Lan for 3 purposes: Transferring 31.22% of the charter capital of the Industrial Rubber Joint Stock Company owned by defendant Tri; Transferring the charter capital of Saigon Dai Ninh Joint Stock Company; and Investing in a project in Hai Ha District, Quang Ninh Province.
Truong My Lan asked Ho Quoc Minh to be named the shareholder of these shares, which is worth over 1 trillion VND. When she learned that Truong My Lan had been indicted and temporary detained for the offense of “fraudulent appropriation of assets” on October 7, 2022, defendant Tri instructed Bui Anh Tuan to draft documents to liquidate the entrusted investment contract of 31.22% of the charter capital of the Rubber Industry Company; adjust the price and liquidate the contract for transferring 10% of the charter capital in Van Lang Company.
On October 23, 2022, Nguyen Cao Tri met Ho Quoc Minh at a cafe in Tan Son Nhat Airport to request Minh to sign the liquidation documents mentioned above to embezzle the amount of 1 trillion VND. The process of working with the investigative agency took place from December 26, 2022, to January 15, 2023. During this time, defendant Nguyen Cao Tri did not admit to receiving 1 trillion VND from Truong My Lan. He also claimed that the meeting with Ho Quoc Minh was coincidental and did not give Minh any documents or materials to sign.
Later on, although the conclusions of forensic expertise No. 20/KL-KTHS on January 6, 2023, of the Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Public Security, determined that the writings of Nguyen Cao Tri in the documents prepared by Tri to monitor and confirm the amount of money received from Truong My Lan held by the investigative agency, defendant Nguyen Cao Tri still did not admit to receiving money from Truong My Lan.
Defendant Tri believed that Lan has slandered and defamed his honor. However, during the prosecution process, defendant Tri admitted to the crimes he committed and made sincere statements. Up until the trial, the defendant and his family have paid over 657 billion VND to resolve the consequences of the case.
Truong My Lan – Chu Lap Co couple wants to pay money to resolve the consequences of the case
On March 7th, the People’s High Court successively received a petition from the Truong My Lan – Chu Lap Co couple requesting authorization for their daughter Chu Duyet Phan and grandson to recover external debts to resolve the consequences of the case.
The presiding judge of the trial stated that the viewpoint of the People’s High Court is to encourage the defendants to pay money to resolve the consequences of the case. Therefore, the wishes in the petition are accepted. At the same time, the People’s High Court stated that if the defendants need it, the People’s High Court will facilitate the recovery of debts when the defendants provide a complete list, addresses, etc., of the borrowers.
