Capitalisation of Eximbank drops $35 million after arrests

Policemen arrived at Eximbank ’s branch yesterday's afternoon

At the end of the afternoon session on March 26, EIB declined to VND14,100, the lowest price sincethe announcement of losing VND245 billion ($10.8 million) from the savings books of client Chu Thi Binh.

With more than 1.23 billion shares listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX), the capitalisation of Eximbank was reduced by an estimated VND800 billion ($35.2 million) to VND17.42 trillion ($767.4 million).

Also yesterday afternoon, the investigation agency under the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) has arrived at Eximbank’s branch on Dong Khoi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City to arrest two female officers named Ho Thi Thuy and Nguyen Thi Thi. After two hours of working at this branch, they have taken many relevant documents for investigation.

Thuy and Thi are suspected of being involved in the case of Le Nguyen Hung (former deputy director of the branch) who is charged of appropriating property through swindling. However, MoPS has yet to announce an official statement on this case.

The officer of Eximbank ’s branch being arrested

Earlier, at the end of February, MoPS issued an international arrest warrant on Le Nguyen Hung on the charge of falsifying dossiers, withdrawing, and appropriating hundreds of billions of dong at Eximbank's branch in Ho Chi Minh City. It was issued after investigating the case of Chu Thi Binh who lost VND245 billion ($10.8 million) of her deposits in Eximbank, while she still held the savings books.

According to the initial investigation, in 2007, Binh deposited her substantial savings at Eximbank and became a VIP customer. Le Nguyen Hung, who was deputy director at that time, directly dealt with her. He and some staff usually visited Binh's home to pay her due interest.

However, Hung allegedly forged fake dossiers to withdraw money from Binh's saving accounts. He had taken away a large amount of money during a longer time period and left the country. When Binh checked the balance of her savings accounts at the end of 2017, she found she had lost more than VND245 billion ($10.8 million).

When this case was announced publicly, the stock of Eximbank declined sharply for two consecutive sessions, reducing the capitalisation of the bank by VND1.05 trillion ($46.26 million) at the end of February.