Ms. Truong My Lan in court – Photo: HUU Hanh
April 26, source Tuoi Tre Online confirmed that Ms. Truong My Lan (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group) has filed an appeal against the entire first instance criminal judgment to the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City.
Accordingly, Ms. Truong My Lan asked to reconsider the crime that the first instance court had charged her with and the death sentence imposed on her.
Previously, on April 11, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Ms. Truong My Lan to 20 years in prison for violating lending regulations, death penalty for property embezzlement, and 20 years in prison for bribery. highway. The total sentence is death penalty.
Regarding civil liability, the jury forced Ms. Truong My Lan to reimburse SCB for the remaining 1,243 loans as of October 17, 2022, equivalent to an amount of 673,849 billion VND.
The trial panel assessed that the investigation process, trial developments, and the defendants’ testimonies were consistent with the evidence documents in the case file, and there was enough evidence to determine that as of October 2022, Ms. Truong My Lan acquired and held up to 91.5% of SCB Bank shares through individuals and legal entities acting on her behalf.
Taking advantage of her role as a large and powerful shareholder, holding practically an absolute number of shares of SCB Bank, Ms. Truong My Lan conveyed her will to defendants Dinh Van Thanh, Bui Anh Dung, Vo Tan Hoang Van, Ta Chieu Trung, Truong Khanh Hoang, and Tran Thi My Dung withdrew money from SCB to appropriate a large amount of money from the bank for personal use.
The defendants Dinh Van Thanh, Bui Anh Dung, Vo Tan Hoang Van, Ta Chieu Trung, Truong Khanh Hoang, Tran Thi My Dung accepted Ms. Truong My Lan’s will, ignored legal regulations, and actively assisted allowing Truong My Lan to withdraw money from SCB Bank, causing particularly great damage.
The above acts of Truong My Lan and the defendants constitute the crime of property embezzlement. However, SCB does not have state capital, these defendants committed crimes over a long period of time, while the Penal Code has a fundamental change in handling before and after January 1. January 2018.
Accordingly, the 1999 Penal Code does not stipulate the crime of property embezzlement for non-state legal entities. Therefore, crimes committed before January 1, 2018 will be handled according to the corresponding articles and clauses (article 179) of the 1999 Penal Code; Criminal acts occurring after January 1, 2018 are handled according to the articles and clauses (article 353, article 206) of the 2015 Penal Code, taking into account the principle of benefit to the defendants.
During the trial, Ms. Truong My Lan disagreed and repeatedly asked the jury to reconsider the charges of “property embezzlement” and “bribery” against her.
Regarding the case, the remaining 85 defendants in the case received penalties ranging from 3 years in prison but suspended sentences to life imprisonment.
