BSR chairman arrested in relation to OceanBank trials

Chairman of BSR Nguyen Hoai Giang (left) and chief accountant Pham Xuan Quang (right)

On May 10, the Ministry of Public Security’s investigation agency arrested Nguyen Hoai Giang (50), chairman of BSR, and Pham Xuan Quang (38), BSR’s chief accountant, for the charge of “abusing position and/or power for appropriation of property” (Article 355 of the 2015 Criminal Code).

Criminal proceedings have been initiated against Giang and Quang in order to investigate the case involving BSR and Oceanbank, prosecution of which started in September 2017 under the supervision of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption.

Earlier, in September 2017, during the second hearing of the OceanBank case, C46 started three criminal cases with the same charge, involving BSR, Vietsovpetro JV (VSP), and PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP).

According to the proposal of the investigation agency, in 2010-2014, OceanBank’s chairman Ha Van Tham ordered the bank to spend VND1.576 trillion ($70 million) on interest payments without contracts for customers. BSR received around VND19 billion ($0.84 million) of this.

Also related to receiving this amount from Oceanbank, C46 started criminal proceedings against Vu Manh Tung (44), deputy general director of BSR, on April 27.

In a document sent to the State Securities Commission (SSC) and the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), BSR confirmed collaborating with the authorities to investigate the case.

Nguyen Hoai Giang and Pham Xuan Quang were arrested due to individual responsibility, and the proceedings will not affect the current operations and business of BSR.

BSR was successfully equitised in last January by auctioning 242 million shares (equivalent to 7.79 per cent of the total stakes) on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX) to earn over VND5.4 trillion ($238.6 million), 60 per cent higher than the expected amount.