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The court continued to seize many assets, shares, and hundreds of real estates; requested the Ministry of Public Security to clarify many transactions between Ms. Truong My Lan and real estate tycoons to recover money to resolve the case.
On the afternoon of October 17, Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced Ms. Truong My Lan, 68 years old, Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat to life in prison for the crimes of:Fraudulent appropriation of property(30,000 billion VND);Money laundering(445,747 billion VND) andIllegal transportation of currency across borders(4.5 billion USD - equivalent to 106,730 billion VND).
The trial panel determined that all of the money embezzled from the bond issuance, VND30,081 billion, was used by Ms. Lan for personal purposes, so she must be responsible for compensating all damages. The court continued to seize the assets of Ms. Lan and her family, related to the wrongdoing, to ensure the execution of the judgment.
The other defendants were not obliged to compensate for the damage, but during the investigation they voluntarily paid a portion of the compensation, so the court acknowledged and continued to confiscate this amount to offset Ms. Lan's obligation in the case.
General Director of Thu Thiem Real Estate Company must pay Ms. Lan 1,000 billion VND
The court ordered Mr. Nguyen Van Liem (General Director of Thu Thiem Real Estate Company) to return 1,000 billion VND to Ms. Lan through the transfer of the An Phu Urban Development Project in Ho Chi Minh City, invested by Thu Thiem Real Estate Joint Stock Company. The project of this company will continue to be seized to ensure execution of the judgment.
Regarding the two albino Hermes bags, the court determined that one was purchased by Ms. Lan with money from criminal sources, and the other was purchased with private funds. However, because Ms. Lan had many other obligations to fulfill, the court decided to continue to confiscate them.
Regarding Ms. Lan's 18% shares in Vietcombank Bonday - Ben Thanh Joint Venture Company, which is owned by Setra Company, during the investigation, Ms. Lan and Vietcombank agreed to transfer these shares for 920 billion VND.
The court determined that these agreements were not against the regulations, but there was not enough basis to determine the valuation certificate for the above shares. Therefore, to ensure the maximum recovery of Ms. Lan's obligations in the case, the court continued to seize and handle them according to the correct market price.
Similarly, for Ms. Lan's shares, which were registered under the names of many people, at FWD Insurance Company (over 600 billion VND); 1.4 million shares at Tan Viet TVIS Securities Company; Dong Duoc Company; Hoa Thuan Phat Company, Ngoc Vien Dong Company (4,500 billion VND); Sao Thuy Company... and hundreds of other real estates, the People's Court requested the investigation agency to continue to seize them for handling.
Regarding the assets including land use rights, shares... of the 3 deceased people, and 5 fugitives, the court determined that these defendants all played very important roles in the case. Therefore, the court continued to hand over these assets to C03 for handling according to the law.
Requesting the Ministry of Public Security to investigate transaction relations at The Spirit of Saigon project
Regarding the amount of 15,712 billion VND that Bitexco received from Ms. Lan to transfer the Ben Thanh Quadrangle Project (The Spirit of Saigon), the investigation agency determined that more than 4,000 billion VND was withdrawn from SCB, the rest was money that Ms. Lan borrowed from other banks. Ms. Lan stated that she had agreed to transfer the project for 22,000 billion VND but had only transferred 7,000 billion VND to Bitexco.
According to the court, the collected evidence shows that the defendant sent people to manage and operate the company. To continue implementing the project, Bitexco's member company had to issue bonds worth VND23,000 billion. To date, the principal and interest arising from this bond package has reached VND33,000 billion - exceeding the amount received from Ms. Lan. During the purchase and sale process, Ms. Lan received the money from the bond issuance.
The trial panel believes that there are still many conflicts related to the project, so it is necessary to assign the Department of Police Investigation of Crimes of Corruption, Economy, and Smuggling (C03, Ministry of Public Security) to continue investigating and handling to consider the criminal and civil responsibilities of the parties.
Similarly, for the projectSingapore - Vietnam Urban Areaand some other assets whose origin has not been verified and clarified, the court assigned C03 to continue investigating.
Regarding the transfer transaction of the Tan Thanh Long An project, the court determined that Ms. Lan had agreed to transfer to Ms. Vo Thi Kiem Khoa (of Novaland) for 30,000 billion VND. The transfer value was guaranteed by Ms. Khoa's obligation to repay the debt of the bond packages worth more than 19,000 billion VND that Van Thinh Phat had previously issued.
However, after the incident, the parties adjusted the project price down to VND20,000 billion - which is said to affect the guarantee of obligations for previously issued bond packages. Therefore, the court transferred the case to the Department of Police Investigation of Corruption, Economic Crimes, and Smuggling (C03, Ministry of Public Security) to continue to seize, investigate or handle according to other procedural procedures, at the request of the parties.
Regarding Ms. Lan and her lawyer's proposal to remedy the consequences such as: recovering 15,000 billion VND received by some beneficiary banks originating from the issuance of bonds; using the "Super Project" Amigo (located at four frontages of Nguyen Hue - Ngo Duc Ke - Ho Tung Mau - Huynh Thuc Khang streets, District 1)... The Trial Panel believes that the documents in the case file are not sufficient to determine the legality of this property, so there is no basis for acceptance.
Lifting of Capital Place Building Seizure Order
The court canceled the measure to block Mr. Chu Lap Co's accounts because the defendant returned the entire amount of 33 billion VND.Money launderingfor wife's crime money.
About a dozen savings accounts at the bank in the names of Chu Duyet Hang, Chu Duyet Phan (two daughters of Ms. Lan) and Mr. Chu Lap Co worth about more than 100 billion VND have not been clarified in terms of origin, so the People's Court requested the Ministry of Public Security to continue investigating and handling.
During the investigation, C03 blocked the 10 billion VND bank account of Mr. Truong Me (Ms. Lan's younger brother). Because there was no basis to prove that this amount was related to the case, the defendant Ngo Thanh Nha (Mr. Me's wife) had no obligation to compensate, so the court lifted the seizure order.
Regarding the building at 29 Lieu Giai, Hanoi, the court determined that this asset is the capital contribution of 3 shareholders, which are foreign companies. The companies that own shares in this building are all subsidiaries of Viva Limited Company, 100% owned by Chu Duyet Phan.
These companies have a credit relationship with foreign banks and this is a legal transaction. Therefore, the court cancels the seizure order and hands over these assets to the banks to handle debt collection under the supervision of the Supreme People's Procuracy, C03 and competent enforcement agencies.
After fulfilling the debt repayment obligations of the shareholders, the remaining amount will be used to fulfill Ms. Lan's judgment enforcement obligations.
HA (according to VnE)