Property tycoon Truong My Lan’s driver admits to transporting $4.4M in cash

Dung is among the accomplices of the property developer Van Thinh Phat chairwoman who are accused of helping her launder the VND445.75 trillion (US$17.5 billion) she took from embezzling Saigon Commercial Bank and issuing fraudulent bonds.

Prosecutors alleged that Dung help transported VND108.88 trillion and $14,700 between 2019 and 2022.

"My job is to drive Lan to her company or wherever she asked. When she told me to transport boxes of money I would do it also," he told the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City Tuesday.

During these instances, he would drive an SUV to the basement of Saigon Commercial Bank, where an employee would wait with boxes of money and gave him instructions on where to take them.

He took some notes of the amount delivered to individuals, but only discovered the total when the investigators told him.

For every trip Dung would receive between VND500,000 and VND1 million in tips. "I did not know the origin of the money. I only knew it came from the bank."

Tran Thi Hoang Uyen, an assistant of Lan, was accused of receiving a total of VND5 trillion from Dung. But she told the court that she was not aware of the source of the money, and only took it to manage Lan’s family expenses.

"I was tasked with monitoring the credit cards of Lan, her husband and their two daughters. Every month, I was told to take money to the bank and pay off their credit card debts."

Uyen said that she was only a "helper" with no expertise, who did not know where the money came from, and did not gain anything except the salary.

Tran Xuan Phuong, a secretary of Lan’s sister-in-law Ngo Thanh Nha, was accused of receiving VND325 billion from Dung.

Phuong also said that she had no knowledge about the origin of the money, and only found out later that it came from fraudulent bond issuances.

"In 2019, I was not aware of what I was doing due to my limited understanding of the law. When investigators explained everything to me, I felt remorseful for my action."

Prosecutors alleged that Lan used the VND445.75 trillion to transfer to individuals, pay debts, invest in projects, pay bond interest, and other purposes.

At the ongoing trial Lan is accused of fraudulent of appropriation of assets (through bond issuances), money laundering and illegal trans-border movement of money.

Earlier this year she was sentenced to death for embezzling money from the SCB between 2012 and 2022.

She and her accomplices owe VND677 trillion to the bank they had obtained through 1,300 different loans.

The court also found her guilty of bribery and violating banking regulations. She has appealed the death sentence.