According to the conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency, from January 2012 to October 2022, through many fraudulent tricks, companies belonging to the Van Thinh Phat "ecosystem" operated by Ms. Truong My Lan, Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, received thousands of loans from SCB, with a total amount of more than 1 million billion VND.
To date, the total outstanding debt in the irrecoverable group has reached more than VND667,000 billion. After deducting assets eligible for risk provisioning and handling collateral assets, Ms. Truong My Lan and her accomplices were accused of appropriating more than VND498,000 billion from SCB.
Defendant Truong My Lan, Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, is accused of co-defendant embezzlement of more than VND498,000 billion from SCB.
Notably, for Ms. Lan's violations to have been allowed to continue for such a long time, with such a serious nature and level, it is impossible not to mention the complicity of inspection officers.
According to the conclusion, in August 2017, an interdisciplinary inspection team at SCB was established with 18 members, including 9 people from the Banking Inspection and Supervision Agency (TTGSNH), 2 people from the State Audit, 4 people from the Government Inspectorate , and 3 people from the National Financial Supervision Committee.
SCB's supervisory team also received 'huge' money from Ms. Truong My Lan's group
In fact, SCB violated all inspection contents. However, following the direction of Van Thinh Phat Group Chairman Truong My Lan, SCB paid "backdoor" money to all members of the inspection team, in order to cover up the violations. As a result, the case was not discovered and prevented in time.
The investigation results determined that all 18 members of the inspection team received money from SCB. The person who received the most was the head of the team, Do Thi Nhan (Director of Department I, Banking Supervision Agency) with 5.2 million USD, equivalent to 118 billion VND.
However, only Ms. Nhan was proposed to be prosecuted for accepting bribes, 10 people were proposed to be prosecuted for abusing their positions and powers while performing official duties, and the remaining 7 people were proposed to be exempted from criminal liability.
Why is this happening?
Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group Truong My Lan at the time of prosecution
I have strongly recommended to handle it but failed.
According to the investigation conclusion, 7 members of the inspection team received money from SCB but were proposed to be exempted from criminal liability, including 3 people from the State Audit, 3 people from the Banking Inspection Agency and 1 person from the Government Inspectorate.
These people were identified as subordinates, only participating in part of the work assigned by the team leader. In the report sent to the team leader and the head of the inspection team, they all honestly reflected on SCB's violations.
Typically, during the inspection of 71 customers (same address at 4 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Ho Chi Minh City) at SCB, Mr. Lai Van Bach (of the State Audit), Ms. Bui Vu Hong Trang and Ms. Pham Thi Thuy Linh (both of the National Financial Supervision Committee) determined that the loans for the above group of customers had many violations and resolutely recommended transferring them to the competent authorities for consideration and handling.
Billionaire Chu Lap Co listened to his wife's instructions, causing a loss of 39,000 billion VND to SCB
The three inspectors also asked their superiors, including Ms. Do Thi Nhan, to clarify the source of money SCB lent to customers, and requested verification at the Vietnam National Credit Information Center (CIC) about the outstanding debt status of new customers.
However, by the end of the inspection period, the head of the inspection team still had no verification documents. They had to sign a report amending the recommendation in the direction of transferring it to the State Bank to continue inspecting SCB's credit granting, and if any signs of law violations were discovered, it was recommended to transfer it to the competent authority for consideration and handling.
Similarly, some members of the inspection team who received money but were not recommended for criminal prosecution also fully reported SCB’s violations, recommended administrative sanctions and requested the bank to correct and amend. They did not know that in the group of 71 customers, many people had incurred very large new debts, did not participate in drafting the inspection plan, and only signed under the direction of the head of the team, Do Thi Nhan…
Within 10 years, SCB has disbursed more than 1 million billion VND to companies in the Van Thinh Phat "ecosystem", of which the total outstanding debt that cannot be recovered is more than 667,000 billion VND.
Proactively return money before the case is prosecuted
According to the conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency, during the investigation, all 7 members of the above inspection team actively cooperated and proactively returned all the money received from SCB before the case was prosecuted.
Among them, one person claimed to have received money from SCB 4 times, but returned it 2 times, in reality only receiving 100 million VND; another person claimed to have received money from SCB 5 times, totaling 9,000 USD and 100 million VND.
Based on the above grounds, the investigation agency decided not to prosecute criminally but proposed strict Party and government sanctions against the group of 7 inspectors.
The whole inspection team received money from SCB, some received less than 100 million, some received more than 118 billion.
In another development, on November 22, at the press conference announcing the results of the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption and Negativity (Steering Committee), Mr. Nguyen Van Yen, Deputy Head of the Central Internal Affairs Committee, said that the investigation process of the Van Thinh Phat case had been closely and tightly directed by the Steering Committee.
The Central Public Security Party Committee, leaders of the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Procuracy, and the Supreme People's Court have coordinated and directed central prosecution agencies to research, analyze, and correctly assess the nature, extent, and essence of the violations.
Accordingly, cases of receiving large amounts of money, causing particularly serious consequences, have been prosecuted and proposed for prosecution. Some other subjects will be considered for handling based on the nature, extent, especially the cause and context of receiving money.
"The cases of violations by inspection teams are weighed up and down, analyzed and evaluated carefully. There are some subjects who fall into a situation where there is no agreement, no commitment, no demands. The amount of money received is small during holidays and Tet," Mr. Yen said, adding that these cases will not be prosecuted criminally, but will be strictly handled by Party discipline and administrative discipline.
Bribe hundreds of billions but still escape punishment
At the request of Van Thinh Phat Group Chairwoman Truong My Lan, Mr. Vo Tan Hoang Van, former General Director of SCB, gave a bribe to the head of the inspection team Do Thi Nhan totaling 5.2 million USD.
However, the investigation agency determined that Mr. Van only carried out the instructions of Ms. Truong My Lan and proactively reported giving money to Ms. Nhan and other individuals during the inspection process. At the same time, the former General Director of SCB also proactively denounced Ms. Nhan's actions and actively cooperated with the investigation agency.
Therefore, this defendant is not considered criminally responsible for bribery, but is only proposed to be prosecuted for two crimes: embezzlement of property and violation of regulations on banking activities.
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