Former Ocean Bank executives stand trial

February 28, 2017 | 10:41

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The People’s Court of Hanoi on February 27 opened the first instance hearing for former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Ocean Bank) Ha Van Tham and other former executives of the bank for serious violations of State laws.

Tham and his accomplices were charged by the Supreme People’s Procuracy for infringements of regulations on the lending activities of credit institutions; abusing position and authority while performing duties; and deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing severe consequences, according to the Penal Code.

Forty-seven out of the total 48 defendants were present at the hearing, including former CEOs Nguyen Xuan Son and Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, and former Deputy CEOs Nguyen Van Hoan and Le Thi Thu Thuy.

According to the court’s verdict, Oceanbank committed extremely serious violations in lending, mobilising deposits, and paying customers with higher interest rates than the ceiling regulated by the central bank, affecting the implementation of State’s monetary policy.

While holding the highest position at the bank, Tham directed his subordinates to approve a loan for former Chairman of the Vietnam Construction Bank’s Board of Directors Pham Cong Danh without guaranteeing the lending conditions, collateral and proper purposes, thus causing an economic loss of nearly 350 billion VND (15.3 million USD) for the bank.

He had directed the bank’s staff to pay interest rates outside of the mobilising deposit contracts for customers, causing serious economic losses for Oceanbank, the procuracy agency said.

Son was found to coordinate with Tham to charge customers additional fees, triggering a loss of nearly 69 billion VND (3.02 million USD) for the bank and customers.

Meanwhile, Thu instructed the bank’s branches to pay interest rates outside the mobilizing deposit contracts, causing a loss of 1.576 trillion VND (69 million USD).

The hearing is scheduled to last 20 days.

VNS

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