Ms. Truong My Lan appeared in court to request a reduction of her death sentence.

On November 4, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City considered the appeal of Ms. Truong My Lan and 46 defendants regarding violations related to Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) and Van Thinh Phat Group (phase one of the case). Among them were Mr. Chu Lap Co (Ms. Lan's husband), Truong Hue Van (Ms. Lan's niece)...

Ms. Do Thi Nhan (former director of the State Bank's inspection and supervision department) appealed to reduce her life sentence for bribery.

Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri, Chairman of Capella Group, asked for a reduction in his 8-year prison sentence for abusing trust to appropriate property. 1,000 billion VNDBefore the appeal hearing, Mr. Tri had paid the full amount of 1,000 billion VND to repay Ms. Lan and had submitted a request to be tried in absentia due to being treated for a spinal injury.

As the victim in the case, SCB appealed to the appellate court to review the entire civil liability portion of the case.

Some related individuals and organizations, including Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Joint Stock Company, appealed, requesting that the company only have to pay back VND1,441 billion instead of VND2,882 billion according to the first instance judgment, minus the VND130 billion transferred to Tan Viet Securities Company. This company also requested to return 6 unrelated land use right certificates.

Au Lac Company and T&H Ha Long appealed to consider canceling the signed framework contracts, releasing the seizure and returning the company's shares and assets that are being seized after completing the obligation to return more than 6,095 billion VND to Ms. Lan.

In April, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced Ms. Truong My Lan to 20 years in prison for bribery; 20 years in prison for violating regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions; and the death penalty for embezzlement. The total sentence is the death penalty.

She appealed, claiming that the sentence was too harsh and heavy for her, asking the appellate court to review the entire sentence.

The first instance verdict determined that since 2011, Ms. Lan had acquired 3 private banks to merge into SCB. Taking advantage of the State's policy in the SCB restructuring project, Ms. Lan used the bank as a financial tool to mobilize capital for her personal business and the ecosystem of Van Thinh Phat.

With 91.5% ownership of SCB through many individuals, Ms. Lan directed key leaders at SCB and Van Thinh Phat to create fake documents and withdraw money from SCB. To legalize the withdrawal and avoid detection of violations, Ms. Lan asked SCB officials to transfer disbursed money to "ghost" companies, then withdraw cash or transfer it in a roundabout way to cut off the cash flow. Providing low-value collateral and then inflating it to secure large loans was just a trick to steal people's money deposited at SCB.

From 2012 to 2017, Ms. Lan directed the creation of fake records for 304 customers, borrowing 368 loans. By 2022, these loans had an outstanding debt of more than 132,000 billion VND in principal and interest. After deducting from the collateral, these loans caused a loss of 64,600 billion VND. Ms. Lan's actions during this period were a crime of violating regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions.

From February 2018 to October 2022, Ms. Lan directed the creation of 916 fake loan applications of SCB worth VND 545,000 billion, embezzling VND 304,000 billion; causing a loss of nearly VND 130,000 billion in interest. Because the 2015 Penal Code has changed the way of handling violations that occurred before and after January 1, 2018 (the 2015 Penal Code came into effect), Ms. Lan's actions constituted the crime of embezzlement..

During the 10 years of acquiring SCB, Ms. Lan directed her accomplices to disburse a total of more than 2,500 loans to a group of companies in the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem. By October 2022, Ms. Lan and Van Thinh Phat's group still had nearly 1,300 loans with an outstanding principal and interest of VND 677,000 billion. The court determined that this was the amount of damage in the case and Ms. Lan was obliged to compensate SCB.

In addition, to conceal the weak state of SCB and help the bank escape special control, Ms. Lan directed her subordinates to bribe the inspection team. In particular, Vo Tan Hoang Van (SCB General Director) gave Ms. Do Thi Nhan (Director of the State Bank's Inspection and Supervision Department) 4 times the amount of 5.2 million USD; gave money and gifts to members of the inspection team to cover up the violations, creating conditions for SCB to continue restructuring. This act is a crime of bribery.

During the investigation and trial, Ms. Lan accepted responsibility for the damages caused to SCB. However, the defendant said that her wrongdoing stemmed from her lack of understanding of the Law on Credit Institutions, so she only committed the crime of violating regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions, not embezzlement of assets; she did not direct Van to give bribes.

In this case, Ms. Do Thi Nhan was sentenced to life in prison by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court for accepting bribes. Three former leaders of SCB, including Dinh Van Thanh, Bui Anh Dung, former chairman of SCB, and Vo Tan Hoang Van, were also sentenced to life in prison.

81 other defendants were sentenced to between 3 years' suspended imprisonment and 20 years' imprisonment for a series of crimes: Violating regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions; Violating regulations on banking operations; Embezzlement of assets; Lack of responsibility; Abusing positions and powers while performing official duties; Abusing trust to appropriate assets.

In addition to this sentence, Ms. Lan and 33 others were also convicted in the second phase of the Van Thinh Phat Group case. On October 17, Ms. Lan was sentenced to life in prison by the court of first instance for three crimes: Fraudulent appropriation of assets (VND 30,081 billion of 35,824 bondholders) through the issuance of fake bonds; money laundering (VND 445,747 billion) and illegal transportation of currency across the border.(4.5 billion USD - equivalent to 106,730 billion VND).