Ms. Truong My Lan appeared in court for appeal in the 30,000 billion VND bond case.

On March 25, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City opened the second phase of the appeal trial of Van Thinh Phat following the appeal for a reduced sentence of Ms. Truong My Lan and 27 accomplices.

The trial is expected to last from March 25 to April 21. The panel of judges will be chaired by Judge Pham Cong Muoi, judges Chung Van Ket, Hoang Minh Thinh and two alternate judges, Ms. Bui Thi Thu and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh.

Representatives of the High People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City participating in the trial were Mr. Vo Phong Luu, Nguyen Vi Dung, Nguyen Khanh Toan and Mr. Nguyen Van Tung (reserve participant).

Previously, in October 2024, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Ms. Truong My Lan to life in prison for fraud and appropriation of property, 8 years in prison for money laundering, and 12 years in prison for illegally transporting currency across the border. The total sentence this defendant must serve is life in prison.

After the first instance trial, Ms. Lan appealed for a reduced sentence. Ms. Lan's niece, Truong Hue Van, and 26 other defendants also filed a petition for a reduced sentence or a suspended sentence. Mr. Chu Lap Co (Ms. Lan's husband) did not appeal and accepted the 2-year prison sentence.

The person involved is Mr. Truong Lap Hung (Ms. Lan's younger brother) who appealed to have his frozen account removed.

At the same time, 6 other units and individuals with related rights and obligations in the appeal case, request to review the judgment related to their assets.

SCB Bank appealed regarding the handling of property evidence in the case related to this bank. Others appealed regarding the recovery, seizure, and prevention of property transactions.

On the side of the victims who bought the bonds, 10 people appealed because their names were not on the list of victims, 26 victims appealed to request payment of interest and principal according to the signed bond purchase contract.

According to the first instance verdict, Ms. Truong My Lan and her accomplices issued 25 packages of bogus bonds with a total value of more than VND30,869 billion, without collateral. To date, there is an outstanding debt of more than VND30,081 billion from over 35,000 investors, with no ability to pay.

To conceal the source of money from the bond issuance and the 415,000 billion VND obtained from the embezzlement of assets from SCB Bank's money source, Ms. Lan directed her subordinates to coordinate and plan to withdraw and transfer money out of the banking system and use it for different purposes.

From 2012 to 2022, every time she transferred money abroad to pay off debts and receive loans from abroad, Ms. Lan directed her subordinates to create "fake" contracts to buy and sell shares, capital contributions... between subsidiaries of Van Thinh Phat Group and "ghost" companies at home and abroad.

Through these "fake" contracts, loan money is transferred from abroad to Vietnam and debt repayment money is transferred from Vietnam to abroad through the SCB Banking system.

The total amount of money that Ms. Lan and her accomplices illegally transported across the border was more than 4.5 billion USD, equivalent to 106,000 billion VND.