Appeal trial of Van Thinh Phat case: Proposal to uphold the death sentence for Ms. Truong My Lan

On November 15, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City continued the first phase of the appeal trial of the case at Van Thinh Phat Group Joint Stock Company (Van Thinh Phat Group) and Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) with the part stating the viewpoint on resolving the case of the High People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the case, from 2012 to October 2022, defendant Truong My Lan acquired and held 85 - 91.5% of SCB shares, thereby becoming the most powerful shareholder, able to direct, operate, and manipulate all activities of SCB to serve her various purposes.

The indictment in phase 1 of the case shows that Truong My Lan and her accomplices carried out a series of acts of selecting and arranging trusted personnel for key positions at SCB; establishing a number of units under SCB specializing in lending and disbursing funds at Lan's request; establishing and using thousands of "ghost" companies; colluding with individuals who are leaders of many related enterprises to commit crimes.

In addition, Truong My Lan and her accomplices also colluded with many valuation companies to inflate the value of collateral; created a large number of fake loan applications to withdraw money from SCB; devised plans to withdraw money, "cut off" cash flow after disbursement; sold bad debts, sold deferred credit loans to reduce credit balance, reduce bad debts, and conceal violations; bribed and influenced people with positions and powers in state agencies to violate their duties.

The criminal acts of defendant Truong My Lan and her accomplices are the fundamental and essential cause leading to SCB's complete loss of liquidity, a huge credit balance that cannot be recovered, and negative equity of VND 443,769 billion.

The High People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City assessed that Truong My Lan's actions were particularly serious; she was the mastermind and leader of the case, simultaneously committing three crimes: "Embezzlement of property", "Violation of regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions", and "Bribery". The consequences of the criminal acts of Lan and her accomplices had a negative impact on banking activities, causing insecurity and disorder, causing public confusion and loss of people's trust. Therefore, the court of first instance sentenced defendant Lan to a combined death sentence for these three crimes, which was "right person, right law, no injustice".

At the appeal hearing, Truong My Lan admitted her crime, confessed honestly, and repented. At the same time, the defendant expressed her determination to remedy the consequences by making a commitment to remedy all damages and agreeing to hand over all 658 unmortgaged assets and project 6A in Trung Son area to remedy the consequences of the case, in case the mortgaged assets are not enough; the defendant has paid an additional amount of nearly 3,000 billion VND to date... This is a new mitigating circumstance for defendant Lan in addition to the mitigating circumstances that were applied at the first instance such as achievements in charity activities and COVID-19 prevention and control...

According to the Procuracy, the new mitigating circumstances above are grounds to accept the appeal of the defendant Truong My Lan to consider partially reducing the sentence for the defendant for the crime of "Violating lending regulations in the activities of credit institutions", thereby proposing to reduce the sentence from 20 years to 16-18 years in prison for this crime.

However, with the remaining two charges of “Embezzlement of property” and “Bribery”, because the defendant simultaneously committed many particularly serious acts, committed organized crimes and used sophisticated means to commit the crimes, the representative of the Procuracy said that the new mitigating circumstances were not enough to reduce the sentence. Therefore, the Procuracy proposed to maintain the death sentence for Truong My Lan for the crime of “Embezzlement of property” and 20 years in prison for the crime of “Bribery”. Thus, in total, Truong My Lan still faces the death penalty.

Regarding defendant Do Thi Nhan, former Director of the State Bank Inspection and Supervision Department, the representative of the High-level People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City said that defendant Nhan had received bribes from defendant Truong My Lan four times, totaling 5.2 million USD, to conceal, dishonestly and incompletely report violations of SCB in a way that reduced them, benefiting SCB so that this bank would not be put under special control and continued to propose and propose conditions for restructuring. Nhan's corruption with an especially large amount of money caused serious consequences, creating conditions for defendant Truong My Lan and other defendants to continue their violations, causing social insecurity and disorder, greatly affecting the guidelines and policies of the Party and State.

According to the Procuracy, the court of first instance convicted the defendant Do Thi Nhan of accepting bribes, considering the increased criminal liability. This crime should have been punished with the highest penalty of death, but because the defendant had proactively returned 2/3 of her assets before the first instance, the sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. At the appeal court, the defendant Nhan paid more money, but the amount was insignificant compared to the severity of the defendant's crime, and there was not enough basis to further reduce the sentence, so the Procuracy requested the Trial Panel to reject the defendant's appeal for a reduction.

Defendant Nguyen Cao Tri (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Lang Education Investment and Management Joint Stock Company, former Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Capella Company) was accused of appropriating 1,000 billion VND from Truong My Lan and sentenced to 8 years in prison at the first instance trial for the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property", which is completely commensurate with the crime according to the assessment of the High People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City. However, at the appeal trial, defendant Tri had many new details such as suffering from a spinal injury... so there was a basis to consider reducing the sentence for the defendant. From there, the Procuracy proposed that the Trial Council reduce Tri's sentence to 5-6 years in prison.

Regarding the group of defendants who are former SCB leaders, the representative of the Procuracy determined that they had assisted Truong My Lan in appropriating a large amount of money, so they should be severely punished to deter and educate the general public. Regarding the crime of "Embezzlement of property", the representative of the prosecution agency determined that the first instance verdict sentencing the defendants in this group was appropriate. Regarding the crime of "Violating regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions", the Procuracy proposed that the Trial Council reduce the sentences for some defendants such as: Truong Khanh Hoang (former acting General Director of SCB), Ta Chieu Trung (former member of the Board of Directors of SCB)... The two defendants Vo Tan Hoang Van (former General Director of SCB) and Bui Anh Dung (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCB) were proposed to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

The Procuracy accepted the appeal of defendant Chu Lap Co (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Times Square Investment Joint Stock Company, husband of defendant Truong My Lan) for a reduced sentence because at the appeal court, Co admitted to the crime, presented many new details, and paid an additional amount of money to remedy significant consequences. From there, the representative of the Procuracy proposed to reduce the sentence for Chu Lap Co from 9 years in prison to 7-8 years in prison. Defendant Truong Hue Van (former General Director of Van Thinh Phat Group Joint Stock Company, former General Director of Windsor Real Estate Management Group, niece of defendant Truong My Lan) was also proposed to reduce the sentence from 17 years in prison to 14-15 years in prison.