The defendants were transferred from prisons in Hanoi to HCMC on that day. The escort operation was carried out meticulously by close coordination between units of the Ministry of Public Security and the HCMC Police. The operation was completed by the evening of the same day.
Nearly 3,000 individuals to be summoned to court proceedings
Previously, on February 5, the HCMC People's Court issued a decision to begin the trial from March 5 to April 29. Defendant Truong My Lan was charged with "Embezzlement," "Bribery," and "Violation of regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions."
The remaining 85 defendants are facing charges including "Embezzlement," "Violating banking regulations and other related activities," "Bribery," "Accepting bribes," "Abuse of power and position while performing official duties," "lack of responsibility causing serious consequences," and "Abuse of trust to appropriation of property."
Ten prosecutors from the Supreme People's Procuracy and the HCMC People's Procuracy will participate in the trial as assigned by the Supreme People's Procuracy. Defendant Truong My Lan will be defended by five lawyers. SCB will appear in court as a victim in the case. Besides being a defendant, Truong My Lan will also appear in court as a victim for the act of abusing trust to appropriation of property by defendant Nguyen Cao Tri (Chairman of Cappella Group).
Besides the 86 defendants, nearly 200 lawyers, the court will also summon over 2,400 individuals with relevant rights and obligations to serve the trial of the misconduct case involving SCB and Van Thinh Phat Group.
On February 15, the HCMC People's Court also issued a notice urging five wanted defendants in this case to turn themselves in to benefit from the leniency policies of the Party and State and to cooperate with prosecuting agencies to ensure their rights to defense and self-representation as stipulated in Articles 16 and 61 of the 2015 Penal Code.
The five defendants are Nguyen Lam Anh Vu (former Deputy Director of SCB's Ben Thanh Branch), Tram Thich Ton (former member of SCB's Board of Directors), Chiem Minh Dung (51, former Deputy CEO of SCB), Nguyen Thi Thu Suong (50, former Chairwoman of SCB's Board of Directors), and Dinh Van Thanh (53, former Chairman of SCB's Board of Directors).
Falsifying loan records, disbursing over VND1 quadrillion
From January 1, 2012, to October 7, 2022, Truong My Lan orchestrated the falsification of loan applications, resulting in the disbursement of 2,257 transactions totaling over VND1 quadrillion. As of October 17, 2022, there were still 1,284 outstanding loan applications, amounting to a debt of VND677.29 trillion, with no possibility of recovery. Of which, principal debt accounts for VND483.97 trillion, and interest/fees account for VND193.32 trillion. Truong My Lan's principal debts represent 93% of the total outstanding debt at SCB.
From January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2017, the defendant Truong My Lan violated banking regulations and other related activities, resulting in damages exceeding VND64 trillion after deducting the value of collateral for the loans. From January 1, 2018, to October 7, 2022, the defendant embezzled assets totaling over VND304 trillion in principal debt and over VND129 trillion in interest accrued from the principal debt after deducting the value of collateral for the loans.
The criminal actions of Truong My Lan and her accomplices were the root cause that led to SCB's complete loss of liquidity, an extensive amount of credit debt with no chance of recovery, and a negative owner's equity of VND443.77 trillion.
These transgressions persisted for a decade without intervention. The prosecuting authorities identified part of the issue as the complicity of inspection officials from the banking supervision agency under the State Bank of Vietnam. Notably, among them, Do Thi Nhan (former Director of the Inspectorate and Supervision Department II under the State Bank of Vietnam) was indicted for accepting an exceptionally large bribe, amounting to US$5.2 million.
