HCMC – Police have proposed prosecuting Truong My Lan, former chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group Corporation, for money laundering and asset misappropriation fraud, said local media reports.
The Ministry of Public Security said yesterday evening, June 5, that the Investigation Police Department for Corruption, Smuggling, and Economic Crimes (C03) concluded an investigation into the case of “asset misappropriation fraud, money laundering, and illegal cross-border money transfer” that occurred at Van Thinh Phat Group and Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB).
The investigative agency has recommended charging Lan and 33 others with three offenses, namely asset misappropriation fraud, money laundering, and illegal cross-border currency tranfer.
Previously, leaders of C03 said Lan misappropriated over VND304 trillion and utilized the illegally acquired funds for investments in numerous real estate projects and transferred overseas, thereby constituting the offense of “money laundering.”
Regarding the charges of asset misappropriation fraud, Lan and her accomplices were suspected of issuing fraudulent bonds worth over VND30,000 billion to acquire assets from others.
Due to its immense scale, complexity, and the involvement of numerous individuals, the case at Van Thinh Phat Group had to be divided into two phases of investigation.
In the initial case involving Van Thinh Phat and SCB, the indictment asserted that in effect, Truong My Lan was in almost full control of the bank as she owned 85% to 91.5% of it even though she held no official position at SCB.
Lan allegedly ordered hundreds of loan files to be falsified at SCB, allowing her to misappropriate VND304 trillion (nearly US$12.4 billion) and leading to nearly VND130 trillion in lost interest.
On April 11, the court in HCMC issued a verdict sentencing Lan to 20 years in prison for violations of banking regulations, death for embezzlement of assets, and an additional 20 years behind bars for bribery. This combined sentence amounts to capital punishment.
Lan has filed an appeal against the entire first-instance criminal verdict, requesting a review of the charges and the death penalty sentence imposed by the court.
