Death sentence proposed to be upheld for property tycoon in bank swindle
Procurators recommended maintaining the death sentence for Truong My Lan, former Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, for involving in an embezzlement case at Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) at the appellate trial in Ho Chi Minh City on November 15.
Acknowledging Lan's expression of remorse and pledge to compensate all the loss she had caused to the bank along with her contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the High-Level People's Procuracy in HCM City held that these mitigating factors could be used to ease part of the penalty for the charge of "violating lending regulations in the activities of credit organisations". It proposed the sentence be reduced from 20 years to 16 -18 years.
However, it said the mitigating factors were insufficient to warrant leniency on the charges of "fraudulent appropriation of property” and “giving bribes” as Lan had concurrently committed many particularly serious and organised wrongdoings.
The procurators said the death sentence for "fraudulent appropriation of property” should be upheld for Lan, who should aslo face a 20-year jail sentence for “giving bribes”. The combined sentence amounts to death penalty.
Court records showed that Lan orchestrated a decade-long takeover of the SCB from 2012 to October 2022, amassing 85 - 91.5% of SCB’s shares and wielding unprecedented power to manipulate the bank’s operations for personal purposes.
Lan and her accomplices selected and appointed their relatives to key positions at the bank, formed a number of SCB units specialising in lending and disbursement at Lan’s request, and established and used thousands of "ghost" companies. The group colluded with leaders of many related businesses to commit crimes, and created bogus loan profiles to withdraw money from the bank, among other acts.
The fraud was the root cause of SCB's staggering negative equity of over VND443.7 trillion (US$17.48 billion).
The procuracy also recommended upholding life imprisonment for Do Thi Nhan, former head of the central bank’s Department of Inspection and Supervision, for taking bribes. The same sentence was for Vo Tan Hoang Van, former SCB General Director, and Bui Anh Dung, former SCB Chairman.
They showed leniency to Lan's family members. Her husband, Chu Nap Kee Eric, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Times Square Investment Corporation, may have his sentence reduced from 9 to 7 - 8 years after admitting guilt and making substantial restitution payments. Lan's niece, Truong Hue Van, who served as former General Director of Van Thinh Phat Group and former General Director of Windsor Property Management Group, may have her 17-year sentence cut to 14-15 years.
