Truong My Lan offers personal assets to compensate bond fraud victims, denies culpability

The chairwoman of property developer Van Thinh Phat told a court Monday that because Saigon Commercial Bank needed to raise money in 2018 she let it use four Van Thinh Phat subsidiaries to issue bonds to over 35,800 investors.

The proposals for the issuances, done in 25 tranches, came from Dinh Van Thanh, then SCB chairman, and Nguyen Phuong Hong, deputy CEO, she told the People's Court of HCMC.

Thanh is now in hiding while Hong has died.

Lan said Hong had asked for SCB to "borrow" four subsidiaries of Van Thinh Phat to issue the bonds, and she could not refuse because her company would have lost all its investments in the bank if it went under. "I did not order the issuances. I only let the bank use my companies to issue the bonds."

She had even asked her family members and friends to buy bonds worth VND5 trillion, she said.

Lan also denied using the proceeds though prosecutors have accused her of repaying bank debts, investing in projects and meeting personal expenses with the money besides moving some overseas.

She said she only knew "vaguely" what the money was used for, but swore it went into SCB’s coffers so that it could repay its debts.

But despite her innocence she is willing to help compensate the victims who lost money by buying the bonds, she told the court.

The court has ordered individuals and organizations to pay her the VND21 trillion they owe.

She requested credit organizations who received payments of VND17 trillion from the money raised from the bond issuances to return it to authorities to compensate victims.

She has a VND20 trillion property project and 65 other assets that could also be used for compensation, she said.

If that is not enough, she is willing to throw in a major property project in HCMC’s District 1. "I really want to recompense the [victims]."

Lan is in court on charges of fraudulent appropriation of assets through the issuance of bonds, 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.