Van Thinh Phat chief committed unprecedented crimes: lawmaker

Speaking in the National Assembly Tuesday Pham Van Hoa, a lawmaker from the southern province of Dong Thap, was referring to the VND1 quadrillion (US$44 billion) in depositors’ money she allegedly took out of lender SCB between 2012 and 2022.

She is now likely to be charged with bribery, embezzlement and violating banking regulations.

Eighty-five others also face similar charges, including Do Thi Nhan, former head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s inspection and supervision department, who had allegedly received bribes of over $5 million to condone the violations at SCB.

Referring to another hot-button issue, he asked if lenders and insurance companies had allowed bank employees to induce customers into buying insurance policies, which resulted in thousands of complaints and eroding public trust in the two industries.

The government needs to find solutions for these issues and regain people’s trust, he said.

Bo Thi Xuan Linh, a lawmaker from the central province of Binh Thuan, said many people have expressed concern about corruption at government agencies in charge of oversight and investigation of potential crimes.

People who masterminded these incidents of corruption should be severely punished, she said.

Between October last year and September this year, the Ministry of Public Security recorded 5,700 cases of financial crimes and nearly 800 corruption cases.