Van Thinh Phat case: The maid said she was "appointed" as a secretary by Truong My Lan

The Van Thinh Phat case has just had new developments, many of Ms. Truong My Lan's accomplices admitted to participating in the crimes but explained that they were under pressure.

On September 25, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court continued to try the case related to Van Thinh Phat Group Joint Stock Company to clarify the act of money laundering. According to the indictment, from January 1, 2018 to October 7, 2022, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group Joint Stock Company Truong My Lan and her accomplices appropriated more than VND 445,000 billion through embezzlement and fraud.

The defendants, who were former leaders of Saigon Commercial Bank ( SCB), such as Nguyen Phuong Anh, Tran Thi My Dung and Truong Khanh Hoang, all affirmed that Truong My Lan played a leading role in organizing money laundering.

In court, defendant Phuong Anh admitted to making "fake" loans with bank leaders and feeling pressured. Defendant My Dung said the disbursement decisions were made under Ms. Lan's direction, while defendant Hoang was only in charge of disbursement and did not manage the cash flow.

Defendant Bui Van Dung - Truong My Lan's personal driver, also admitted to assisting his "boss" in transporting 108 billion VND related to the crimes.

Under the direction of the defendant Lan, Mr. Dung drove to the SCB headquarters to receive money in a cardboard box and then delivered it to Tran Thi Hoang Uyen (Ms. Lan's secretary) or Tran Xuan Phuong (secretary of Ngo Thanh Nha - defendant Lan's sister-in-law). All transactions of receiving and delivering money were carefully recorded by the driver in a personal notebook.

Defendant Tran Thi Hoang Uyen stated that she was actually just a maid for Truong My Lan's family. However, to legitimize the payment, Ms. Lan "conferred" on the maid the title of secretary.

Under the direction of the landlord, defendant Uyen had to regularly receive bank statements, check each person's spending, report back, and notify the cardholders to check. "As a maid, I have no knowledge of what is happening. I hope the jury will consider..." - defendant Uyen said, choking up.

In court, defendant Truong My Lan requested a review of the VND445,000 billion related to the crime of "Money Laundering" and expressed concerns about other allegations such as embezzlement and violation of bank regulations. The defendant asserted that she only used the money to pay off old bank loans.

On the 6th day of the trial (September 26), the panel questioned the defendants on the charge of "Illegal transportation of currency across the border". This was the last charge the panel questioned after the 2 charges of fraud and money laundering. In this charge, in addition to Truong My Lan as the mastermind, there were 8 defendants, including:

Truong Khanh Hoang (Acting General Director of SCB Bank); Vo Tan Hoang Van (General Director of SCB Bank); Former Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCB Bank - Bui Anh Dung, Nguyen Phuong Anh (Deputy General Director of SPG Company); Trinh Quang Cong (General Director of ACUMEN Group Company); To Thi Anh Dao (Deputy General Director of Van Thinh Phat Group); Nguyen Vu Anh Thi (General Director of VIPD) and Nguyen Huu Hieu (Deputy General Director of An Dong Company) played a practical role in assisting Ms. Lan's actions.

Responding to the panel of judges, Ms. Lan said that the indictment determining the prosecution of the defendant for the crime of "Money Laundering" is the right of the Procuracy, the defendant respects it, the defendant only hopes that the panel of judges considers that the defendant's companies (Van Thinh Phat) are not related to the money transfer, the defendant accepts responsibility.

Truong My Lan also added that she borrowed money from friends abroad and the money to pay the debt was her own, not related to SCB Bank's assets, but only through this bank. Explaining the accusation of 'creating fake contracts to transfer and receive money', the defendant said she did not understand the process and did not directly create the fake contracts.

"At the time the Procuracy accused the defendant of wrongdoing as stated in the indictment, the defendant and his accomplices thought it was in accordance with the law, the defendant did not direct his accomplices to transfer money across the border" - Ms. Truong My Lan presented to the panel of judges.

Truong My Lan case: Defendant has recovered more than 3/4 of the damage, can she escape the death penalty? Nguyễn Kim13:33:41 28/11/2024On 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.