"Rich" couple accused of defrauding tens of billions from banks

On September 12, the Hanoi People's Court brought the defendant couple Nguyen Son Hai (born in 1975, in Hai Ba Trung) and Pham Van Anh (born in 1976) to trial for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

Previously, in April 2016, Hanoi City Police received a complaint from VIB Bank accusing Mr. Hai of fraud and appropriation of bank loans.

The investigation results show that in 2007, SmartDoor Australia Rolling Door Joint Stock Company was directed by Mr. Hai and was the legal representative. Ms. Van Anh was the deputy director in charge of finance and accounting of this company.

In addition, Mr. Hai and his wife also asked someone to establish 4 other companies in their name: Hopo Joint Venture Company Limited, Hai Anh Trading Service Production Joint Stock Company, Van Phu Trading Service Production Joint Stock Company and ArtDoor Joint Venture Joint Stock Company.

According to the accusation, from March 2012 to August 2012, Mr. Hai and his wife committed fraud, using legal entities they established, directed, and managed to sign contracts for the sale of goods and documents related to the sale of fake aluminum and stainless steel goods, and issued fake value-added invoices for the sale of aluminum and stainless steel goods to each other in order to create documents proving the purpose of use and documents of collateral formed from fake loans.

This was to establish a loan application from VIB Bank, Hanoi branch, with a total amount of more than 28 billion VND, resolved according to 12 debt acknowledgment contracts. In reality, the goods bought and sold were not real aluminum and stainless steel, there was no purchase and sale of goods between companies.

After receiving the loan from VIB Bank, Mr. Hai and his wife did not use the loan for the intended purpose but transferred the money through subsidiaries, used it to pay off previous loans of SmartDoor Company at VIB and Techcombank, or withdrew cash to use for other activities, appropriating the bank's loan.

The accusation is that Ms. Van Anh participated as an accomplice to help her husband defraud and appropriate loans from VIB Bank. Currently, defendant Hai has fully paid off SmartDoor Company's loans at VIB Bank and has fully remedied the consequences of the case.

During the additional investigation, Mr. Hai stated that around 2010-2011, he was sick and could not manage production and business activities. Mr. Hai did not know about the economic contracts for the purchase and sale of goods between SmartDoor Company and other companies; he also did not direct his wife to sign debt acknowledgment contracts and payment authorizations with VIB Bank, and did not know about the amount of money that VIB disbursed according to the economic contracts.

In addition, the company seals and Mr. Hai's signature seal were managed and used by his wife. Mr. Hai directed the making of one signature seal and gave it to someone else to manage and stamp with his consent. Only when working with the investigation agency did Mr. Hai learn that there were two signature seals of his.

Meanwhile, Ms. Van Anh stated that although she was the deputy director of SmartDoor Company, she was not in charge of finance and accounting, and did not participate in the company's production and business activities. Ms. Van Anh signed debt acknowledgment contracts, loan requests, and payment authorizations given by the company's chief accountant.

According to Ms. Van Anh's testimony, she did not know who created the fake economic contracts for the purchase and sale of goods, the goods delivery and receipt minutes, did not know who managed and used the SmartDoor Company seal and Mr. Hai's signature, and did not know how the money disbursed by VIB Bank was used because it was managed by Mr. Hai and the accountant.

The investigation agency allowed the defendant and his wife to confront each other, but both sides maintained their original statements.

Today’s trial had to be adjourned so the court could summon the bank and some people with related rights and obligations. The trial will resume on September 23.

During the investigation of the case, Hanoi City Police also received a complaint from TPBank denouncing Thien Phu Industrial Group Joint Stock Company (with Mr. Pham Quang Hoan, defendant Hai's father-in-law, as Chairman of the Board of Directors and legal representative, defendant Hai as Deputy General Director and Ms. Van Anh as the authorized person to sign the credit contract and request loan disbursement).

According to the accusation, after the bank disbursed more than 19 billion VND under the credit contract on November 12, 2011, Thien Phu Company arbitrarily sold the collateral, which was circulating inventory worth more than 31 billion VND. The remaining inventory according to actual inspection was equivalent to 800 million VND.

Up to now, Thien Phu Company has paid all the principal debt to TPBank, so the bank has sent a request to the investigation agency to withdraw the complaint and not consider criminal prosecution of the related subjects.

In December 2017, the investigation agency decided to separate documents related to the act of arbitrarily selling mortgaged assets at TPBank for later investigation and handling.