Truong My Lan case: Paying an additional 20 million to remedy the consequences was recommended to reduce the sentence by 1 year

On October 12, after three weeks of work, the trial of defendant Truong My Lan and 33 other defendants ended the debate. According to the announcement of the presiding judge, the panel of judges will announce the verdict at 8:00 a.m. on October 17.

During the trial on the afternoon of October 10 and the morning of October 11, representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Procuracy responded to the opinions of the defendants' defense lawyers.

Accordingly, the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Procuracy responded to nine groups of issues: (1) Issues regarding the crime; (2) Issues regarding aggravating and mitigating circumstances of criminal liability; (3) Regarding the determination of accomplices, intention of appropriation and use of money; (4) Regarding the position and role of the defendants in the case; (5) Regarding the context of the defendants' crimes; (6) Regarding the criminal liability attributed to the criminal acts; (7) Group of issues related to the period of detention; (8) Regarding the penalty: The lawyers requested a reduction in the penalty, a suspended sentence or exemption from the penalty or a penalty equal to the period of detention and (9) Judicial measures and civil liability.

Notably, in the response, the representative of the People's Procuracy acknowledged and changed the proposed sentence for the three defendants Phan Chi Luan, Tran Thi Thuy Ai, and Truong Thi Kim Lai.

Specifically, defendants Luan and Ai paid an additional 20 million VND, defendant Lai paid an additional 10 million VND to remedy the consequences. From there, the People's Procuracy proposed that the panel of judges reduce the sentences for the defendants, reducing each defendant by one year in prison. The proposed sentences were: Defendant Lai from 4-5 years in prison, defendant Luan from 5-6 years in prison, defendant Ai from 4-5 years in prison.

Besides these three defendants who paid additional money to remedy the consequences, there were several other defendants who also paid additional money to remedy the consequences with much larger amounts, but the Procuracy did not record this to propose a new penalty.

Regarding this issue, the representative of the People's Procuracy explained: Although the amount of money the defendants paid was insignificant compared to the consequences of the case, with difficult family circumstances, this remedy shows the common spirit of the defendants in overcoming the consequences.

In addition, in addition to the three defendants mentioned above, there are a number of other defendants who also paid additional money to remedy the consequences, but it is considered that these amounts of money were not from the defendants but from Van Thinh Phat Group. For these cases, the Procuracy only recorded them and the Panel of Judges will consider them for the defendants during the deliberation process. The Procuracy will not change the proposed level of punishment.

Also related to the case, defendant Truong My Lan had her final words before the panel of judges deliberated.

As the first to present, Ms. Lan said she was grateful to the jury, the prosecutor, the police force and the officers at the places where she was detained for more than 2 years. The defendant promised not to disappoint anyone, and her top priority was to remedy the consequences for tens of thousands of people who bought bonds.

"Standing before the court today, the defendant has paid a very high price. The defendant determined that this was fate and an occupational accident, and that he would never forget for the rest of his life that he had affected tens of thousands of families. Now the defendant does not know where to turn for help, he can only ask the panel of judges and the People's Procuracy to consider and help him," said Ms. Lan.

The Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group then mentioned his actions, the accusations of the prosecution agencies, and explained the use of money... as stated in previous trial days.

Ms. Lan cried and asked the jury to open her heart about her three dreams in life: Van Thinh Phat would build an international general hospital; build social housing and finally build schools for the poor. "But until now these dreams are still unfinished, the defendant failed, due to fate," Ms. Lan said, but claimed that she never intended to embezzle or appropriate property.

As in the court case, Ms. Lan mentioned that her ancestors spent hundreds of years building the family's reputation and that no one had ever broken the law. She herself "sacrificed her whole life, brought all her assets, money, and contributed"; or like the Covid pandemic, she bought 25 million doses of vaccine for the State, then helped buy 25 million more doses.

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