The prosecution and arrest is the latest legal move in the process of investigation expansion over the economic mismanagement case at Ocean Commercial Bank (OceanBank).
According to the Investigation Agency under the ministry, Vu Thi Ngoc Lan had abused her position as deputy director general at PVEP to receive OceanBank’s money beyond interest payment (customer care money) and misappropriate the asset.
In September 2017, the Ministry of Public Security decided to launch three criminal investigations for the same charge at the Vietnamese-Russian oil and gas joint venture Vietsovpetro (VSP), Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (BSR) and PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP).
Implementing the policy and requirement by Ha Van Tham, former chairman of Oceanbank to pay interest rate higher than the ceiling rate by the State Bank of Vietnam, the bank system paid its customers a total of VND1.5 trillion (US$64.67 million) beyond the ceiling reward rate from 2010 to November 31, 2014.
The Investigation Agency affirmed that receiving and use of amounts of money outside interest at VSP, BSR and PVEP is a law violation, showing signs of negotiation and collusion between leaders of these companies and OceanBank in giving and receiving money beyond interest and putting the amount outside accounting books to appropriate.
