Former central bank official under probe in Van Thinh Phat bond fraud case

Do Thi Nhan, former director of the Supervision Department II at the central bank, is facing charges of abuse of power, Major General Nguyen Van Thanh, deputy head of the Department for Investigation of Corruption and Economic Crimes at the Ministry of Public Security, said at a press conference Tuesday.

Nhan and four other inspectors at the central bank, who are also under criminal probe, had reported untruthfully to the central bank's leaders about their inspection results, preventing it from taking timely control measures at the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), Thanh said.

"This is serious violation," Thanh said, without further details.

Van Thinh Phat made headlines after its chairwoman Truong My Lan and other related people were arrested last October for alleged fraud related to the issuance of bonds worth trillions of dong (VND1 trillion = $42.56 million).

Also arrested were Truong Hue Van, 34, CEO of Windsor Property Management, Nguyen Phuong Hong, 38, an assistant at Van Thinh Phat, and Ho Buu Phuong, 50, former chairwoman of Tan Viet Securities and former deputy financial director of Van Thinh Phat.

The police have put 32 people under criminal investigation for their involvement in the case.

Around 40,000 people bought bonds of An Dong, a subsidiary of Van Thinh Phat, through SCB, according to Tan Viet Securities.