On March 19, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City continued the trial of the case at Van Thinh Phat Corporation (referred to as Van Thinh Phat Group) and Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB). This is the 10th day of the trial.
The trial continues on the 10th day
The People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City began the indictment of the 86 defendants in the case. According to the indictment, the defendants including Truong My Lan (former Chairman of the Van Thinh Phat Group) and other defendants have violated the proper functioning of the organization and eroded the trust of the people.
Defendant Lan agreed to use multiple assets; authorized her daughter to recover more than VND 1,500 trillion of outstanding debts that some individuals and organizations had not paid to mitigate the consequences of the case.
The investigation process also revealed the fraudulent appropriation of assets by defendant Truong My Lan.
Since the start of the trial on March 5, Truong My Lan has continuously denied the accused charges. Meanwhile, the leadership and officials of SCB, who are knowledgeable about the law and competent, have admitted to assisting Truong My Lan in “draining” the bank. The total damage is estimated to be VND 498 trillion.
Defendant Truong My Lan
The People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City believes that Lan has committed multiple offenses, organized crimes, using various sophisticated methods, embezzling and causing significant financial losses to the state. These aggravating circumstances impose criminal responsibilities on the defendant. In addition, the representative of the Procuracy also argues that Lan has shown no remorse and instead blamed her subordinates and other defendants at SCB. Therefore, she deserves a severe punishment for her criminal actions.
The representative also stated that before the restructuring of SCB (as of January 1, 2012), Truong My Lan owned over 80% of SCB shares (through the Vietnamese Vinh Phu Finance Corporation and other shareholders’ names). By 2018, Lan owned more than 91% of SCB shares.
Defendant Do Thi Nhan
With her shareholder power, Lan easily controlled all activities of SCB from the time of the merger until the commencement of the case.
Defendant Truong My Lan met Do Thi Nhan and provided $5.2 million to cover up the special weaknesses and misconducts of SCB found through inspections, so that SCB would not be put under special control and could continue to restructure…
During more than 10 years from January 1, 2012, to October 7, 2022, Lan “directed” the fabrication, lending, and disbursement of 2,527 loans to “drain” over VND 1 quadrillion from SCB – 100 times the bank’s charter capital (SCB was once the largest private bank with total assets and charter capital of VND 10.5 trillion, later increased to VND 15.2 trillion). Consequently, Lan misappropriated over VND 304 trillion.
To legitimize the cash withdrawals from SCB, when the bank disbursed to the accounts of “ghost” companies under the loan plan, Truong My Lan instructed Ho Buu Phuong to coordinate with Nguyen Phuong Anh, Dang Phuong Hoai Tam, and Phan Chi Luan (from the Executive Office of Van Thinh Phat Group) to prepare a plan to “dissipate reserves” by creating fraudulent share transfer contracts. At the same time, they used multiple individuals to open accounts at SCB for cash withdrawals, deposits, circular transfers, and ultimately the money reached Truong My Lan.
In cases where SCB disbursed to individuals’ accounts (hired under loan account names or beneficiaries), these individuals would go to the bank to sign withdrawal documents. Defendant Truong My Lan instructed Nguyen Phuong Hong (Deputy General Director of SCB, deceased) or Tran Thi My Dung (Deputy General Director of SCB) to prepare the paperwork. Afterwards, Lan instructed Bui Van Dung (Lan’s driver) to go to SCB’s Saigon Branch to receive the money.
The defendants in court
From February 26, 2019, to September 12, 2022, following the direction of Truong My Lan, Bui Van Dung transported VND 108.878 trillion and over $14 million from SCB to Van Thinh Phat Group’s locations (193-203 Tran Hung Dao) or to B1 Basement, Sherwood Building (127 Pasteur) or delivered it to certain individuals as instructed by Truong My Lan.
The indictment continues…
