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On Tuesday Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in HCMC’s District 1 was swarming with mobile and traffic police and cops from other units as they guarded all entrances to the court. At around 7 a.m. the 81 defendants were brought to the court in dozens of vans.
Lan, 68, showed up in a white shirt.
She is on trial for bribery, violating bank regulations and embezzlement after allegedly misappropriating VND304 trillion ($12.31 billion) from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB).
Eric Chu is accused of helping her borrow money illegally from the bank and causing it a loss of VND9.12 trillion.
Lan’s niece Truong Hue Van is on trial for causing a loss of VND1.1 trillion to the bank.
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Truong Hue Van, niece of Van Thinh Phat chairwoman Truong My Lan. Photo by VnExpress/ Thanh Tung |
Of the remaining 82 accused, 45 are SCB executives, 15 are State Bank of Vietnam officials, three are from the Government Inspectorate, and one is a former official at the State Audit Office.
They all face charges of embezzlement, bribery, abuse of power while performing official duties, lack of responsibility causing serious consequences, and violating bank regulations.
Nguyen Cao Tri, chairman of property developer Capella, is accused of appropriation of property for allegedly stealing VND1 trillion from Lan.
The trial is expected to go on until April 29. There will be 2,400 witnesses and others involved, including 40 lawyers.
The prosecutors said Van Thinh Phat has a network of 1,000 shell companies that do not have any real operations and are all under its control.
They were set up by Lan to borrow money from SCB and to acquire shares in it. In 2011 the central bank gave Lan the task of merging two other private banks with SCB, but she took advantage of it to siphon money out of the merged entity for use at Van Thinh Phat and its subsidiaries.
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Van Thinh Phat chairwoman Truong My Lan. Photo by VnExpress/ Thanh Tung |
She owned a 91.5% stake in the bank, though the shares were held in the names of other people and entities.
She repeatedly got huge loans from it, sometimes drawing the money even before they were approved.
To carry out her her plans, she hired people with financial experience and paid them salaries of VND200-500 million a month.
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Defendants are transported to the court in police vehicles. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tung |
She would instruct her subordinates to find people to apply for loans, sometimes with collateral. She also got her niece and husband to manage companies with real activities to apply for loans.
Another charge she faces is for ordering her subordinates to inflate the value of collateral by dozens of times or using illegitimate collateral.
Between 2012 and 2022 SCB gave Lan over 2,500 loans worth over VND1 quadrillion, equivalent to 93% of its loans. In all, she is accused of causing losses of VND498 trillion to the bank.
To keep the goings-on under wraps, Lan bribes government auditors and inspectors.
She reportedly paid the head of the central bank’s department of inspection and supervision, Do Thi Nhan, $5.2 million.
