Truong My Lan case: Defendant has recovered more than 3/4 of the damage, can she escape the death penalty?

On November 26, the first phase of the trial at Van Thinh Phat Group, Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank ( SCB) and related units and organizations ended the debate, and the defendants were given the final say.

During her nearly 30-minute presentation, defendant Truong My Lan earnestly asked the panel of judges to consider reducing her sentence. "I am almost 70 years old this year. If the court reduces my sentence to 20 years in prison, I don't know if I will survive until then. I have changed. If the court finds that I deserve to plead guilty, I hope it will be reconsidered," defendant Lan said.

The defendant said that he currently has no support, and his only wish is to remedy the consequences: "I do not think about the damage to myself or my family, but I am hurt by the waste of national resources. Projects were stalled when I was arrested, for example the Red Cape project (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City)..."

The defendant repeatedly emphasized that this is one of the most serious cases ever in Vietnam and hopes that the People's Court will apply a special mechanism in handling assets, so that the consequences can be remedied and the State and people will not suffer losses.

Ms. Lan also proposed that after returning all assets to the State and the people, the remaining assets will be used to carry out social projects, including building international hospitals to provide free medical treatment for the poor, opening schools, building social housing and investing in infrastructure.

Specifically, the defendant pledged to use the land in Binh Chanh District (HCMC) to build a hospital to serve the community. "I hope the court will acknowledge and allow me to use the remaining money to carry out charity projects to help society," defendant Lan expressed.

The defendant asserted that the key to the case was the debt restructuring, leading to the accusation of property appropriation. She requested the panel of judges to reconsider the accusation of property embezzlement and the 87,000 billion VND that she lent to SCB for restructuring.

"I hope the court will allow my lawyer to enter the detention center so I can provide more documents. I do not blame anyone, I just want to fulfill my responsibility to pay my debt to the State and the people," said Truong My Lan.

Previously, in the response section, the representative of the People's Procuracy proposed to maintain the death sentence for defendant Truong My Lan.

Regarding the lawyer's opinion that the defendant Lan has many mitigating circumstances, there is enough basis to consider mitigating the crime of embezzlement. The People's Procuracy based on Point c, Clause 3, Article 40 of the Penal Code, which stipulates that a person sentenced to death for embezzlement who proactively returns 3/4 of the property, proactively cooperates, or makes great achievements will not be sentenced to death.

The representative of the People's Procuracy analyzed that the first instance verdict found that the defendant Lan embezzled 304,000 billion VND from SCB. If calculated at the ratio of 3/4, the defendant must pay 280,000 billion VND to have a basis to request a reduction in the death sentence.

Previously, in the debate and defense for defendant Truong My Lan, the lawyer said that the prosecution's assessment had not thoroughly considered the actual value of the related assets.

In response to this view of the People's Procuracy, lawyer Giang Hong Thanh (defending defendant Lan) said that at the trial, defendant Lan pledged to use all assets to pay SCB.

Lawyer Thanh analyzed that according to the first instance verdict, Ms. Lan had appropriated 415,666 billion VND from SCB. The panel of judges applied the principle of benefit minus 111,570 billion VND, which is the value of the collateral assets appraised by Hoang Quan and accepted by SCB. The remaining amount that Ms. Lan was accused of appropriated was 304,096 billion VND.

According to lawyer Thanh, the amount of money embezzled of 304,096 billion VND is incorrect. The following formula must be applied to calculate the amount of embezzled money: 415,666 - 295,940 - 5,000 - 21,420 - 172-520 - the value of 440 collateral assets that have not been appraised by Hoang Quan.

Of which: 415,666 billion VND is the principal outstanding amount that the first instance prosecution agency accused Ms. Lan of embezzling from SCB; 295,940 billion VND is the valuation value of 726/1,166 asset codes; 5,000 billion VND is the amount that Ms. Lan and shareholders paid to increase charter capital for SCB; 21,420 billion VND is the amount that the defendants and their families voluntarily paid or were forced to pay back, and was confiscated to ensure Ms. Lan's obligations; 172 billion VND in the blocked account to ensure Ms. Lan's obligations; 520 billion VND is what Ms. Lan's family and Van Thinh Phat Group paid into the account of the Ho Chi Minh City Civil Judgment Enforcement Department to remedy for Ms. Lan.

Thus, the amount of money that Ms. Lan has recovered or paid back to date is 323,052 billion VND, equivalent to more than 3/4 of the damage requested by the People's Procuracy. This amount does not include the value of many assets such as 440 secured assets at SCB that were not valued by Hoang Quan; 658 unsecured assets for any obligations at SCB that have been seized by the Investigation Agency and many other assets and amounts of money.

In addition, lawyer Thanh also said that if the panel of judges gave Ms. Lan a chance to live, there would be benefits such as: Ms. Lan would cooperate with the prosecution agencies in resolving the case and especially actively remedy the consequences; if Ms. Lan were allowed to live, the stalled projects would be revived, including many large projects such as Amigo (Nguyen Hue Quadrangle), Red Lighthouse... bringing in especially large revenues for the State budget.

Truong My Lan case: How was the "mountain of property" declared by the appellate court to be handled? Thiên Di14:53:55 05/12/2024After nearly 1 month of appellate trial, on December 3, the High Court in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City sentenced the defendant Truong My Lan (68 years old, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group) and 47 accomplices causing serious damage to Saigon Commercial Joint Stock...