HCMC court installs cameras to protect 6 tons of Van Thinh Phat Group scam documents

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court has installed security cameras and a firefighting system to protect six tons of documents to be used as evidence in the upcoming trial of Truong My Lan, chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat, and her accomplices.

Chief of the court office Pham Ngoc Duy said Wednesday that the court had accepted the case of Lan and her accomplices on charges of appropriating over VND304 trillion ($12.53 billion) from the HCMC-based Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB).

The documents, that take up 104 boxes, will be kept in a secure private room for lawyers to copy and study.

The city court has assigned judge Pham Luong Toan, chief of its criminal court, to chair the trial, which will open after the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet). The court is also preparing personnel and plans to ensure security for the trial.

Lan is accused by the Supreme People’s Procuracy of giving bribes, violating banking regulations, and embezzlement.

Eighty-five other defendants include 45 leaders and officials of SCB, 15 former State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) officials, three former officials of the Government Inspectorate, and one former official from the State Audit Office.

They are charged with embezzlement, violating banking regulations, receiving bribes, abusing positions and power while performing duties, and showing a lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.

Notably, Do Thi Nhan, former head of the State Bank of Vietnam's banking inspection and supervision department II, is accused of accepting bribes totaling $5.2 million, the largest bribery ever recorded in Vietnam.

Of the defendants, five former leaders of SCB and its branches are on the run.

According to the indictment, during 2012-2022, Lan did not hold any position at SCB but owned a controlling stake of 85% to 91.5%. The procuracy said Lan "manipulated the entire operations of SCB for various purposes".

She and her accomplices arranged for people they trusted to be given key leadership positions on SCB’s board of directors and executive board, and set up units specializing in providing loans requested by the Van Thinh Phat chairwoman.

The indictment stated that from 2012 to October 2022, Lan directed her subordinates to make false documents to take out more than 2,500 loans with a total value of over VND1,066 trillion ($43.88 billion).

They colluded with price appraisal companies to falsely increase the value of collateral assets and prepared false loan documents to take money from SCB.

The prosecutors determined that the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem operated under the holding company model with Van Thinh Phat Group playing a central role, holding shares and controlling all activities of companies in the ecosystem without direct involvement in business activities.