HCMC – Do Thi Nhan, former chief of the Inspectorate and Supervision Department II under the State Bank of Vietnam, has been accused of receiving US$5.2 million in bribes to cover up irregularities in the Van Thinh Phat fraud case.
She was among 86 people that the Ministry of Public Security proposed prosecuting on charges in a bond fraud case involving real estate giant Van Thinh Phat, including embezzlement, violation of banking regulations, bribery, abuse of power, neglect of duty leading to serious consequences, and abuse of trust to misappropriate assets.
Nhan was accused of receiving bribes, while 19 of her accomplices are facing charges such as abuse of power and negligence.
Investigation results showed that this case was a major banking scandal with the largest number of victims (42,000 investors who purchased Van Thinh Phat bonds), the highest bribe amount received by an individual (US$5.2 million), and the largest embezzlement sum of VND304,000 billion.
Previously, the State Bank of Vietnam directed the Inspectorate and Supervision Department to deploy three teams to conduct a comprehensive inspection of Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), including the bank’s operations, credit, bad debt, and Van Thinh Phat’s ownership at the bank.
However, alongside Nhan’s taking US$5.2 million in bribes, all members of the inspection team allegedly took bribes to send a forged report to the central bank’s leaders about their inspection results.
The bribes given to the inspection team members varied from over VND100 million to VND8.7 billion each.
This explained why the Government and the central bank lacked sufficient information and documentation to guide the handling of SCB to prevent Truong My Lan and her accomplices at SCB from committing wrongful acts.
