Tan Hiep Phat Owner Tran Qui Thanh Arrested
Tran Qui Thanh, CEO of Tan Hiep Phat Beverage Group, and his two daughters Tran Uyen Phuong and Tran Ngoc
The investigation agency accused defendant Truong My Lan, Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group, of instructing his accomplices to legalize documents to appropriate more than 304,096 billion VND from SCB for personal purposes.
The Police Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security has just issued an investigation conclusion, recommending the prosecution of 86 defendants in the case related to Van Thinh Phat Group Joint Stock Company (abbreviated as Van Thinh Phat Group), Bank Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Company (SCB) and some units.
Among the 86 defendants, Ms. Truong My Lan, Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group, was proposed to be prosecuted for 3 crimes: Bribery, Violating regulations on banking operations and asset embezzlement.
Among the State Bank (SBV) officials, defendant Do Thi Nhan, former Director of Bank Inspection and Supervision Department II - SBV was proposed to be prosecuted for accepting bribes. Defendant Nguyen Van Hung - former Deputy Chief Inspector in charge of the State Bank's Inspection and Supervision Agency - was charged with abusing his position while performing official duties.
Defendant Nguyen Cao Tri, Chairman of Van Lang Company and Capella Company, was proposed to be prosecuted for abuse of trust and appropriation of property.
The other defendants were charged with the following crimes: Property embezzlement, Violation of regulations on banking operations, bribery, abusing positions and powers while performing official duties, and lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences.
From left to right: Defendants Truong My Lan, Truong Hue Van, Nguyen Phuong Hong and Ho Buu Phuong. Source: Ministry of Public Security
Notably, the Ministry of Public Security still wants 7 defendants who are former SCB leaders.
7 accused wanted in the case are wanted. Source: Ministry of Public Security
Behind the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem
According to the conclusion, during its operation, Van Thinh Phat Group has built a "Van Thinh Phat ecosystem" with more than 1,000 businesses, divided into 4 main groups with close relationships, including financial institutions, groups of companies with business activities in Vietnam, groups of "ghost" companies in Vietnam and company networks abroad.
In the group of financial institutions, SCB plays a particularly important role, used by defendant Truong My Lan as a financial tool to finance companies in the ecosystem. All activities of this bank serve the activities of the female president of the group.
With the policy of taking advantage of the bank's activities in mobilizing capital to meet the business needs of the "Van Thinh Phat ecosystem", defendant Truong My Lan acquired 3 private banks by purchasing, owning, and manipulating the majority of shares.
Since December 2011, by asking someone to own the shares, Ms. Lan holds more than 81% of Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (old) shares, more than 98% of the shares of Vietnam Tin Nghia Commercial Joint Stock Bank and more than 80% shares of First Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
After the three banks above merged into SCB, defendant Truong My Lan asked someone to hold more than 85% of this bank's shares in her name. Also, with the trick of asking someone to sign her name, the businesswoman bought shares and increased her share ownership to more than 91% on January 1, 2018.
By taking control, defendant Lan brought his people or used and trusted individuals who were all qualified and had many years of experience in the banking and finance sector to hold SCB's key positions. These people followed Ms. Lan's instructions and were paid high salaries, from 200 - 500 million VND/month.
Regarding SCB's activities, it is worth noting that this bank is "a financial tool to mobilize deposits from people and organizations". However, SCB mainly serves Truong My Lan's purposes in lending activities.
Investigation results determined that from January 1, 2012, to October 7, 2022, SCB lent and disbursed loans to 1,366 customers, of which 2,500 loans were related to the responsibility of Truong My Lan and her accomplices with a total of 1,066,608 billion VND in money.
As of October 17, 2022, outstanding loans at SCB of more than 677,286 billion VND are unrecoverable. The principal balance of defendant Truong My Lan's loans alone accounts for 93% of the total principal balance of more than 23,000 outstanding loans at SCB.
Ms. Truong My Lan's criminal behavior at SCB
According to the conclusion, after acquiring SCB, defendant Truong My Lan, through trusted individuals holding key roles here and at Van Thinh Phat Group, withdrew money from the bank in the form of disbursement to Loan documents prepared falsely. There are even many loans that withdraw money first and complete documents later.
Each withdrawn amount will be assigned to each group to set up a "ghost" company, "draw" investment plans for projects, and assign departments to calculate appropriate collateral...
The investigation conclusion showed that SCB mobilized deposits from 50 branches but only focused on disbursement to Truong My Lan group at 3 headquarters units, 3 large branches, and 6 small branches. Loan and disbursement documents of this group at the above units and branches all have separate tracking symbols such as "HSTT", "plan", " and " project" so that bankers look at them and understand that they are lending to companies in the "ecosystem".
The investigation agency of the Ministry of Public Security pointed out that the tricks used by Truong My Lan's group to borrow money from SCB included:
- Creating customers with false loans.
- Rent or ask someone to name the property.
- Creating false loan documents.
- Offering valued collateral to create documents by regulations to hide and deal with inspection and examination agencies, essentially to "gut" the bank.
Most Truong My Lan - Van Thinh Phat Group's loans are first disbursed and legalized later.
According to the normal process, the bank only disburses money when the legal procedures for mortgaging the collateral have been completed. But in reality, 1,284 of defendant Lan's outstanding loans had no mortgage procedures when disbursed; The remainder have collateral assets, mainly shares and property rights.
Results of verifying loan documents for the above 1,284 loans at SCB showed 201 loans and loan documents without approval from competent authorities. These loans disbursed more than 10,000 billion; the total outstanding debt is 11,600 billion.
Truong My Lan's group also created and used customers to borrow money without credit, hiring people to sign collateral for 1,200 loans at SCB. Ms. Lan's group also established thousands of legal entities, hired thousands of individuals to act as legal representatives, act as shareholders, sign loan documents, and sign collateral to legalize money withdrawal.
"The reason this "repository" of legal entities is increasingly expanding is because we have to establish many legal entities and "build" many new individuals to take on the loan, so when checked, there will not be a large credit balance" - conclusion state.
For defendant Truong My Lan and his accomplices to withdraw and appropriate money from SCB through loan tricks, there was also the assistance of subjects at valuation companies. Leaders and employees of these companies did not perform appraisal work but issued asset appraisal certificates at the request of SCB to collude and legalize loan procedures and falsely increase the value.
The investigation agency determined that from February 9, 2018, to October 7, 2022, Truong My Lan prepared 916 false loan applications and withdrew money, appropriating 415,666 billion VND from SCB, and has just paid back. Due to a secured loan of more than 11,570 billion VND, the investigation agency determined that Truong My Lan and her accomplices had appropriated more than 304,096 billion VND from SCB.
In addition, Truong My Lan's property embezzlement also caused damage of more than 129,372 billion VND, which is the amount of interest arising from the principal amount appropriated above.
State bank officials "indulge."
To hide the weak financial situation and violations that can be detected through inspection and prevent SCB from being placed under special control and continuing to restructure, Truong My Lan met and discussed with Do Thi Nhan - head of the inspection team of this bank's activities. At the same time, direct subordinates to contact and raise the issue of giving money and gifts to the inspection team members.
Agreeing with defendant Truong My Lan, in the report on the inspection results at SCB presented to the Government by the State Bank, Director of Banking Inspection and Supervision Department II - State Bank of Vietnam Do Thi Nhan and Deputy Chief Inspector in charge SBV inspection and supervision agency Nguyen Van Hung instructed delegation members to only state in general terms, not to record truthful data, and not to state SCB's weak financial situation. The purpose is to mitigate and "obscure" SCB's violations.
After reporting to the Government, Do Thi Nhan continued to request to remove the proposal's content to classify debt 4 and 5 with 3 projects at SCB Cong Quynh branch in the draft. The inspection team also discovered many violations in the loans of 71 customers at the same address but should have included them in the inspection results report sent to State Bank leaders and the Government, as well as transferred to the regulatory agency.
Notably, when inspection team members proposed "putting SCB under special control", defendant Hung removed this content from the State Bank's report to the Government. In addition, in the recommendations section, the inspection team proposed that the Government continue to create conditions for SCB to restructure.
According to the conclusion, from April 2016 to October 1, 2018, Nguyen Van Hung repeatedly received 390,000 USD (equivalent to 8.7 billion VND) from SCB leaders Dinh Van Thanh and Vo Tan Hoang. Defendant Do Thi Nhan received the highest bribe from SCB in the case, up to 5.2 million USD. Inspection team members received money from SCB ranging from 1,000 to 21,000 USD and many other material benefits.
Tycoon Nguyen Cao Tri was accused of appropriating 1,000 billion VND.
The investigation agency accused Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri, Chairman of Van Lang Company and Capella Company, of knowing the Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group, Truong My Lan, since 2017 and cooperating in investing in several real estate projects and buying company shares.
After that, the suspect repeatedly received money from defendant Lan, a total of 1,000 billion VND, through three forms: transferring 65% of the charter capital of the Industrial Rubber Company and purchasing 100% of the Company's charter capital. Saigon Dai Ninh and project investment in Hai Ha district (Quang Ninh Province).
The investigation agency determined that all three of the above investments had no documents or receipts, so in January 2021, Tri met Ms. Truong My Lan and agreed to take 1,000 billion VND from the female chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group.
To gain Ms. Lan's trust, Tri agreed to transfer 10% of Van Lang Company's charter capital to her representative's name. However, the company's accounting books do not record the above transfer of charter capital.
In October 2022, after defendant Truong My Lan was arrested, Nguyen Cao Tri directed his assistant to draft price adjustment documents and liquidate all previously signed transfer contracts. Tri aims to eliminate Ms. Lan's ownership rights at Van Lang Company to appropriate money.
Initially, at the investigation agency, defendant Tri affirmed that he did not receive any money and many applications was sent to other places claiming that "Mrs. Lan's honor was defamed". However, he later admitted his actions and paid 640 billion VND to overcome the consequences.
Cunning, sophisticated, "scripted" criminal acts
The investigation agency assessed that defendant Truong My Lan had dominated, manipulated and completely criticized SCB's operations, acting as an organizer, mastermind and leader to carry out acts of embezzlement of assets with exceptionally large amounts of money.
The criminal acts of female chairwoman Van Thinh Phat and her accomplices were committed with "direct intention", with prior planning, and were prepared and organized meticulously and scripted".
"This is a very large-scale criminal organization, operating dynamically but also sophisticated and cunning. The consequences that this criminal organization causes are especially large in economic terms, with a significant impact on the operations of the banking industry and the state's reputation in economic management," - the conclusion stated.
