Truong My Lan choked up and said her last words, pledging to remedy the consequences.

Defendant Truong My Lan at the trial. (Photo: Hong Giang/VNA)

Defendant Truong My Lan (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group) was the first to have the final say. After the 4th trial of the 2 phases of the case, defendant Lan spent a lot of time thanking the Trial Council, the presiding judge for conducting the trial very scientifically, listening to and understanding the defendants; thanking the Department of Police Investigation of Crimes of Corruption, Economy, Smuggling, the Supreme People's Procuracy , the detention facility... for supporting and creating conditions for the defendant in the process of resolving the case.

Defendant Lan also expressed gratitude to the Government for deciding to establish a Central Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on organizing the execution of judgments and recovering assets in the Van Thinh Phat case, saying that the decision was very meaningful to the defendant. Lan also apologized to the people involved who had worked hard for the past two years to buy corporate bonds and pledged not to let them suffer any losses.

Regarding the case, Truong My Lan once again requested the Trial Council to objectively and comprehensively review the case in terms of data and criminal behavior. From efforts to remedy the consequences, defendant Lan asked the Trial Council to reduce and deeply reduce the sentence for the defendants in the case. In particular, Lan especially hoped that the Trial Council would reduce the sentence for defendant Chu Lap Co (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Times Square Investment Joint Stock Company, Truong My Lan's husband) because Co was tried for the crime of "Money Laundering", so his reputation with foreign partners was affected.

Defendant Lan said that the consequences of the case were “unexpected, an accident.” During more than 10 years of participating in the restructuring of SCB Bank and since being detained until now, the defendant has tried to contact partners to find the best solution... Therefore, Lan asked the Trial Council to acknowledge the efforts and consider the overall assessment to have an appropriate penalty for the defendant.

Regarding this information, the presiding judge said that throughout the appeal trial, the Trial Panel highly appreciated the defendant Lan's great efforts to cooperate to remedy the consequences for the victims. Currently, the Prime Minister has signed a decision to establish and appoint the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister as the head of the Central Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on organizing the execution of judgments and recovering assets in the Van Thinh Phat case, so during the execution of the judgment, the defendant can contact the competent authority to come up with the best plan to compensate and remedy the consequences of the case. If during the execution of the judgment, the defendant shows goodwill to remedy the situation, there will be a review policy in favor of the defendant.

Defendant Truong My Lan and her accomplices at the trial on March 25. (Photo: Hong Giang/VNA)

In her final statement, defendant Truong Hue Van (former General Director of Windsor-WMC Real Estate Management Group Joint Stock Company, niece of defendant Truong My Lan) sent her sincere thanks to the accompanying lawyers and the press who closely followed the trial...

Defendant Van said that this was a special case with serious nature and consequences, so he really wanted a special, flexible mechanism to thoroughly resolve the consequences, in order to protect the rights of the parties involved. Defendant Van hoped that the Trial Council would consider reducing the sentence so that he could soon return to his family and take care of his two children.

Defendant Vo Tan Hoang Van (former General Director of SCB Bank) stated that he was a salaried employee, working as assigned by his superiors; his violations arose from his participation in the restructuring project of SCB Bank.

Van said that during the past time, the defendant has always looked back at his own dignity and morality, and those things have helped him repent, so Van asked the Trial Council to not isolate him and the other defendants from society for too long because he still has responsibilities to his family. Van also asked the Trial Council to create conditions for Truong My Lan and the other defendants to have the opportunity to start over...

The remaining defendants, when giving their final statements, all asked the Trial Council to reduce their sentences so that they could return to their families soon, have the opportunity to take care of their children, and support their elderly parents. After hearing the defendants' final statements, the court adjourned. The Trial Council announced that the deliberation would last until April 21, when the verdict would be announced.

Previously, in the first instance trial of the second phase of the case, defendant Truong My Lan was sentenced to life imprisonment by the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" (more than 30,000 billion VND), 12 years in prison for "Money laundering" (more than 445,000 billion VND), 8 years in prison for "Illegal transportation of currency across the border" (more than 106,000 billion VND); the total sentence that defendant Lan must receive is a life sentence. At the same time, the court ordered defendant Lan to compensate more than 30,000 billion VND, corresponding to each corporate bond with a face value of 100,000 VND, for more than 35,000 people.

At the second phase of the appeal, the High People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City said that the first instance trial of defendant Truong My Lan on all three charges above was the right person, the right crime, and there was no injustice.

However, considering the mitigating circumstances, the representative of the High-level Procuracy said that the defendant Lan has now recovered about 1/4 of the amount related to the bond fraud, so it is possible to consider reducing the life sentence for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property"./.

According to VNA

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/truong-my-lan-nghen-ngao-noi-loi-sau-cung-cam-ket-khac-phuc-hau-qua-245566.htm