Truong My Lan case: Being compared to Tang Minh Phung - EPCO, unexpected coincidence

Recently, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City continued to hear the appeal of the violations that occurred at Van Thinh Phat in phase 1. The panel of judges devoted time for lawyers to defend the defendants who were once key leaders at SCB.

Accordingly, the lawyers presented the cause, context of the crime and mitigating circumstances, requesting the panel of judges to consider reducing the sentence for the defendants.

Defending defendant Vo Tan Hoang Van (former General Director of SCB), lawyer Le Hong Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association) said that Ms. Truong My Lan was the one who controlled all activities at SCB.

According to Mr. Nguyen, at SCB, defendant Van did not receive instructions directly from Ms. Lan but through other officials. At the same time, the defense attorney asserted that his client was only a salaried employee and did not benefit from the wrongdoing.

The first instance judgment stated that, due to not having money to pay off previous loans, Ms. Lan directed the creation of documents for subsequent loans, with the purpose of rolling over the debt, resulting in more and more interest.

Regarding the above content, lawyer Le Hong Nguyen said that the verdict itself also determined that the money did not leave the bank, it was just a debt restructuring on paper, so why accuse defendant Van of helping Ms. Lan to appropriate SCB's assets?

Regarding civil matters, Mr. Nguyen did not agree with the proposal of the High People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City to hand over some assets to SCB for handling.

"If a car is appropriated, the car can be handed over to the victim, but in this case, it is money, so the defendant's property cannot be handed over to SCB to handle and recover the appropriated money," said lawyer Le Hong Nguyen.

Further explaining, Mr. Nguyen said that currently SCB does not have assets to handle the interest-generating assets, so this bank cannot continue to hold the case assets to remedy the consequences as requested by the representative of the prosecution agency.

To further prove his argument, lawyer Nguyen spent a lot of time telling the story of the previous Tang Minh Phung - EPCO case.

Lawyer Le Hong Nguyen said that the Van Thinh Phat case is somewhat similar to the Minh Phung - EPCO case in the civil aspect. In the previous case, the court ruled to hand over a huge amount of assets to the bank, but the debt has not yet been settled.

According to Mr. Nguyen, the Minh Phung - EPCO case has a total debt of more than 6,000 billion VND. The assets are factories and machinery that were handed over to the bank for handling. The case has been going on for 20 years and the consequences have not been resolved because the assets were handed over to the bank but not auctioned, the bank did not have a handling mechanism so it was ineffective in overcoming the consequences.

Next, the lawyer presented many mitigating circumstances for his client such as raising 6 young children, his wife being seriously ill, his family having contributed to the revolution, and his honest confession. From there, the defense attorney requested the panel of judges to consider accepting the appeal and reducing the sentence for the defendant Van.

"I propose that the assets of this case not be handed over to SCB but handed over to the enforcement agency to execute the judgment when the judgment comes into legal effect," the defense attorney for defendant Vo Tan Hoang Van stated in his defense.

At the end of his defense, lawyer Nguyen spoke as a citizen, asking the panel of judges to consider, weigh, and evaluate the circumstances of the case to have grounds to reduce the sentence for Ms. Truong My Lan.

The case file shows that from November 18, 2013 to December 11, 2017, defendant Vo Tan Hoang Van signed 290 loan applications, causing a loss of VND 60,502 billion to SCB. This act violates the law on lending in the operations of credit institutions.

In addition, Van was also accused of signing 348 loan applications from February 9, 2018 to July 25, 2020, helping Truong My Lan embezzle 192,434 billion VND. This act constitutes the crime of embezzlement of property as an accomplice.

For the above actions, Van was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court for the crimes of embezzlement and violation of regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions. After the above verdict, defendant Van appealed for a reduction in his sentence.

At the appeal court, defendant Van admitted his crime and said he was just a salaried employee who did not benefit, and asked the panel of judges to consider and reduce part of his sentence so he could return to start his life over.

In the conclusion, the representative of the High-level People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City proposed that the panel of judges accept part of the appeal, sentence defendant Van to 15-16 years in prison (reduced by 1-2 years in prison) for the crime of Violating regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions and uphold the life sentence for the crime of embezzlement of property.

Truong My Lan gave up and said her last words, her husband was praised to the skies. Minh Lợi20:58:19 26/11/2024On November 26, the appeal hearing of the Van Thinh Phat Group case (phase 1) continued the debate with the response of Ms. Truong My Lan. After that, the defendants were given the final say before the panel of judges deliberated.