5 former leaders of the State Bank of Ho Chi Minh City were bribed by Ms. Truong My Lan

In the case that occurred at SCB Bank, Van Thinh Phat Group and related units, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency has prosecuted and proposed to prosecute 5 defendants at the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Ho Chi Minh City branch, all for the crime of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties".

The defendants include: Nguyen Van Dung, Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City branch, former Director of the Banking Inspection and Supervision Department of Ho Chi Minh City (Department II); Vo Van Thuan, former Deputy Director of Department II and Phan Tan Trung, both Deputy Chief Inspectors of the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City branch; Nguyen Tin, Head of the Supervision Team; Nguyen Thi Phi Loan, former Deputy Chief Inspector of the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City branch.

According to the investigation conclusion, the actions of the above individuals are related to 4 SCB Bank monitoring teams in the period of 2016-2022; the appraisal of SCB restructuring plan 2015-2019 and SCB Inspection Team in 2022.

5 cựu lãnh đạo Ngân hàng Nhà nước TPHCM bị bà Trương Mỹ Lan mua chuộc - 1 — Ms. Truong My Lan (Photo: HN).

During the investigation, the Ministry of Public Security determined that the provisions of law and the State Bank of Vietnam on inspection and supervision of SCB will have 4 measures. However, from 2016 to September 2022, Department II and the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City branch, did not drastically implement measures to periodically/unexpectedly inspect and supervise SCB.

The above two units only implement micro-safety monitoring measures prescribed by law and monitoring measures through SCB's reports, through the establishment of Monitoring Teams.

During the process of implementing monitoring measures through reports, when risks and signs of law violations are found, the Monitoring Team will propose that the leaders of Department II or the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City branch, conduct an inspection/examination of SCB.

During the supervision process from 2016 to September 2022, the Supervisory Team had more than 70 reports and proposals to leaders at all levels on the above content, proposing to put SCB under comprehensive control and special control, but was not approved by the leaders of the State Bank of Vietnam's inspection and supervision department, Ho Chi Minh City branch.

According to the investigation conclusion, the above 5 defendants, in their roles as leaders of Department II, leaders of the State Bank of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, leaders of the State Bank of Vietnam's inspection and supervision department in Ho Chi Minh City, and heads of the supervision team, prevented, obstructed reporting or dishonestly reported the violations and very bad financial situation of SCB to the State Bank of Vietnam and the State Bank of Vietnam's inspection and supervision agency.

The defendants also did not recommend that the State Bank of Vietnam put SCB under comprehensive control; did not recommend that the State Bank's Inspection and Supervision Agency inspect the legal entity SCB to promptly handle violations; narrowed the scope of inspection inconsistently with the proposal of the monitoring team, and intentionally acted contrary to the direction of the State Bank of Vietnam and the Inspection and Supervision Agency.

At the same time, during the process of implementing and directing inspection and supervision of SCB Bank, the above individuals received from SCB from 470 million to 1.8 billion VND.

"The consequences of the violations and receiving money of individuals at Department II, the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City branch and the Supervisory Team allowed Truong My Lan's group and SCB to carry out progressive lending activities each year so that Truong My Lan could withdraw money for personal use/pay off debts for previous loans, in order to conceal the reality of SCB's bad credit activities," the investigation concluded, pointing out the damage was more than VND677,000 billion.

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