Forced to do wrong, many subordinates of defendant Truong My Lan fiercely resisted.

On April 1, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City continued the trial of defendant Truong My Lan and her accomplices.

During the debate, the lawyers presented their defense for the defendants and the defendants also defended themselves.

Most of the defendants admitted to committing the crimes as accused by the prosecutor. However, the defendants all claimed that they were just employees, following the instructions of their superiors. Many defendants also affirmed that when they knew they were wrong, they did not agree and reacted against those instructions.

According to the accusation, while serving as Head of the SCB Supervisory Board, from April 17, 2019 to July 7, 2022, defendant Luu Quoc Thang loosened management, failed to properly and fully perform the prescribed functions and duties of the Supervisory Board; failed to inspect and supervise the credit granting activities of SCB Bank, so he failed to promptly detect, prevent, and take measures to handle SCB's violations in legalizing loan documents and disbursing 652 loans, causing losses to SCB of more than VND 344 trillion.

With this violation, the People's Procuracy proposed that defendant Thang be sentenced to 3 years in prison for the crime of "Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences".

Defending defendant Thang, the lawyer did not argue about the charges, but asked the panel of judges to consider the accusations of lack of responsibility, lax management, and failure to promptly prevent Truong My Lan from withdrawing money from SCB.

According to the lawyer, during his time working at SCB, the defendant discovered many violations, so he made dozens of reports on the operating situation, made recommendations for the Board of Directors to direct relevant branches and departments to closely monitor capital sources and customer debt repayment sources, but they were not considered by the SCB Board of Directors.

In addition, during the working process, the defendant also proactively proposed to review the progress of some projects and real estate as collateral for loans to promptly detect errors in the bank.

The defendant also had opinions, documents, and reports sent to the Board of Directors to review the valuation of assets and actual asset values, but they were not considered. Or reports on the fact that some loans had collateral values ​​that were valued higher than actual values, the Board of Supervisors requested to review and re-evaluate appropriately, and requested customers to add additional collateral...

Even since February 2022, when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and had to be hospitalized, defendant Thang continued to report irregularities at SCB to the Board of Directors.

Defending the defendant Nguyen Huynh Lan Chi (former Deputy Director of the Re-evaluation Department of SCB Bank), the lawyer said that the defendant was just an employee, earning a salary. However, when discovering that her superiors had given illegal instructions, the defendant objected and did not agree to carry them out, leading to conflicts with her superior, Ms. Nguyen Phuong Hong (now deceased). Many times, senior leaders Vo Tan Hoang Van (General Director of SCB) and Chiem Minh Dung (Deputy General Director of SCB) stepped in to resolve the matter.

According to the lawyer, due to awareness of her wrongdoings, at the end of 2017, defendant Lan Chi wrote a resignation letter 3 times but was not approved. To create pressure, the defendant chose not to sign the request for loan approval for 6 months to put pressure on her superiors, forcing her to resign.

According to the lawyer, after Lan Chi quit her job, defendant Chiem Minh Dung (former Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors) repeatedly called to ask her to return to SCB to sign the loan documents that she had previously refused to sign. However, Lan Chi resolutely refused to return to sign and decided to change her phone number.

"This is a particularly important detail showing the defendant's disagreement with the instructions of his superiors. I hope the panel of judges will pay attention when considering the criminal responsibility of defendant Chi," the lawyer cited.

According to the accusation, from 2015 to 2018, defendant Lan Chi, as Head of Department and Deputy Director in charge of SCB's Re-evaluation Department, signed and legalized documents of 83 loans related to the Van Thinh Phat Ecosystem, causing losses to SCB of more than 18 trillion VND.

The People's Procuracy proposed that the defendant Chi be sentenced to 3 years in prison but given a suspended sentence for the crime of "Violating regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions".