Highest sentence proposed for former bank executive for embezzlement

Specifically, a sentence of 16-18 years in prison is proposed for Son for “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing severe consequences”, life imprisonment for “abusing position and power to appropriate property”, and the death penalty for “embezzling property”, which are combined into the overall punishment of death.

Meanwhile, the procuracy asked for a sentence of 19-20 years in prison for Tham for “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing severe consequences”, 18-20 years in prison for “violating lending regulations of credit institutions”, a 20-year imprisonment for “abusing position and power to appropriate property”, and a life sentence for ““embezzling property”. The overall sentence is proposed to be life in prison.

Procurators also proposed imprisonment sentences of 24-27 years for Ocean Bank former Director General Nguyen Minh Thu and 20-24 years for Ocean Bank former Deputy Director General Nguyen Van Hoan Thu.

The defendants were also requested to compensate a total of 1.576 trillion VND (69.3 million USD) for Ocean Bank. Nguyen Xuan Son alone was asked to pay nearly 200 billion VND in compensation to Ocean Bank and more than 49 billion VND to PetroVietnam. Hua Thi Phan was asked to return 500 billion VND to Ocean Bank.

According to the court’s verdict, when working as Ocean Bank’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Tham and his accomplices, who are other former leaders and employees of the bank, committed a series of violations of credit regulations, causing losses for the bank and seriously affecting the State’s monetary policies. Their violations resulted in losses of nearly 2 trillion VND (88 million USD) for Ocean Bank.

Specifically, Tham directed his subordinates to approve a loan for former Chairman of the Vietnam Construction Bank’s Board of Directors Pham Cong Danh without guaranteeing the lending conditions, collateral and proper purposes, thus causing an economic loss of nearly 350 billion VND (15.3 million USD) for the bank.

He had directed the bank’s staff to pay interest rates outside of mobilising deposit contracts for customers.

Son was found to coordinate with Tham to charge customers additional fees, triggering a loss of nearly 69 billion VND (3.02 million USD) for the bank and customers. Meanwhile, Thu instructed the bank’s branches to pay interest rates outside the mobilising deposit contracts, causing losses of 1.576 trillion VND (69 million USD).

The first-instance trial for the case began on August 28, and will last 20 days.

During the process of the trial, the investigation police agency has launched several criminal cases related to the trial.