Ex-vice CEO of Vietnam bank held in large lending scandal

December 24, 2014 | 10:07

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Police from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security have arrested an ex-vice general director of the Hanoi-based Dai Duong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Ocean Bank) for his involvement in an unlawful lending case.

Nguyen Van Hoan, 37, who is also the founder of the bank’s lending council, was arrested on Monday on charges of breaching regulations pursuant to Article 179 of the Penal Code, police said.

On October 24, police detained the former chairman and founder of Ocean Bank, Ha Van Tham, 42, on the same charge.

Hours before the arrest, the State Bank of Vietnam announced that it would suspend him from his post as the chairman of the executive board of the bank.

Nguyen Minh Thu, member of the board of directors of Ocean Bank, was elected to replace him as chair.

During the implementation of a project to re-organize credit organizations, the SBV found Tham committing many serious illegal acts, the central bank said.

One of Tham’s offenses was that he decided to unlawfully give loans worth hundreds of billions of dong (VND1 billion is equal to US$46,800) to Ho Chi Minh City-based Trung Dung Trading and Service One-Member Co. Ltd.

Hoan has been found actively assisting Tham in the unlawful lending, investigators said, adding that Ocean Bank has been unable to recover these loans.

As stated on its website, Ocean Bank was founded in 1993 and converted its operation model to a joint stock commercial bank in 1997.

The bank offers customers multi-purpose financial/banking products and services that are suitable for the economic needs and features of each region, the website says.

In addition, Ocean Bank also develops e-banking services, creating hi-tech and confidential products for corporate and individual customers, according to the website.

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