Death sentence upheld for Van Thinh Phat chairwoman Truong My Lan

The High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday upheld the death sentence for Truong My Lan, chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, in an appeal trial that lasted for nearly a month.

Lan received a death sentence for property embezzlement, 16 years in prison for violating lending regulations in the operations of credit institutions, and 20 years for bribery.

In this criminal case that occurred at Van Thinh Phat Group, Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and related entities phase 1, the total penalty for Lan is death penalty.

According to the jury, Lan was the owner of many companies operating under a model in which Van Thinh Phat Group plays a central role.

Before Saigon Commercial Bank, Ficombank and TinNghia Bank merged to form Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) in early 2012, Lan borrowed from these three banks to carry out real estate projects.

After learning that the three banks had fallen into a liquidity crisis, Lan acquired shares of these banks.

By October 2012, Lan had held a 91.5% stake in SCB, after the merger. She directed key leaders at SCB and Van Thinh Phat to create false documents and withdraw money from the bank.

In particular, from 2012 to 2017, Lan directed the creation of false documents for 304 “customers” to take out 368 loans. By 2022, these loans had had an outstanding balance of more than VND132,000 billion ($5.2 billion) in both principal and interest.

Taking their collateral assets into account, these loans caused a loss of VND64,600 billion ($2.54 billion). Lan’s actions violated lending regulations in the operations of credit institutions.

From February 2018 to October 2022, Lan directed the creation of 916 SCB loan applications worth VND545,000 billion, appropriating VND304,000 billion ($11.97 billion) and causing a loss of nearly VND130,000 billion in generated interest.

Moreover, to hide the weak situation of SCB and help this bank escape “special control” from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Lan instructed her subordinates to bribe the central bank’s inspection team.

For instance, Vo Tan Hoang Van, general director of SCB, bribed Do Thi Nhan, former director of the banks inspection and supervision department II under the SBV, four times, with $5.2 million in total.

The trial panel determined that Lan committed three crimes in all, causing particularly great damages.

It stated that if the defendant could pay three quarters of her assets to remedy the consequences, the sentence could be reduced from death sentence to life imprisonment.

The jury rejected the appeal to reduce the sentence of Do Thi Nhan, former director of the banks inspection and supervision department II, maintaining the life sentence.

For Chu Nap Kee, husband of Lan; Truong Hue Van, a niece of Lan; and a number of other defendants, the court noted that they had some extenuating circumstances, so their sentences were reduced by 1-2 years in prison.