Former general director of DongA Bank proposed for life imprisonment

Former general director of DongA Bank Tran Phuong Binh

At the trial session on December 7, the Procuracy said that Tran Phuong Binh deliberately violated regulations and ordered staff to cause a damage of VND3.608 trillion ($157 million) to DongA Bank. Thereby, the Procuracy proposed the strictest sentence to the former general director.

The Procuracy proposed life imprisonment for Binh for the charge of “abusing power or position for the appropriation of property” and 20 years for “deliberately acting against state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences.” He was proposed life imprisonment as a summary sentence for the two charges.

According to the Procuracy, Phan Van Anh Vu forged documents of paying VND200 billion ($8.7 million) to appropriate DAB shares. At the court, Vu denied, he said he had borrowed money from Binh personally. However, Binh did not admit to lending money to Vu, and the Procuracy’s investigations suggest Binh had guided Vu to forge documents.

Due to returning VND203 billion ($8.8 million) and promising to pay back an additional $13.4 million, the Procuracy proposed 15-17 years in prison for Vu for the charge of “abusing powers and positions for appropriation of property.”

Defendant Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen, former deputy general director of DongA Bank, was identified as an accomplice of Binh. She was charged with “abusing trust for appropriation of property” and “deliberately acting against state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences.” She has to take direct responsibility for the damage of VND40 billion ($1.74 million) and joint responsibility for the damage of VND1.574 trillion ($68.4 million). The Procuracy proposed 30 years of imprisonment for her.

Defendant Nguyen Thi Ai Lan, former head of DAB's debt property management department, was charged with violating regulations under the direction of Binh and Xuyen, causing a damage of VND820 billion ($35.7 million). She was proposed 10-12 years of imprisonment.

Defendant Nguyen Hong Anh (former police officer in Ho Chi Minh City) helped Binh with the violations. She has confessed and shown genuine remorse, and was proposed 5-6 years in prison.

The Procuracy proposed between two years of suspended imprisonment and 18 months of imprisonment for the other defendants.

Clarifying further responsibilities

Additionally, the Procuracy proposed Binh to return VND3.568 trillion ($155 million), Xuyen to jointly return VND1.574 trillion ($68.4 million) and VND40 billion ($1.7 million) by herself, Pham Van Phuoc (former director of VN Food 1 Nam Dinh JSC) to pay back VND9.2 billion ($0.4 million), and Nguyen Hong Anh to return VND53 billion ($2.3 million). Vu Nhom was proposed to pay back $13.4 million and VND90.5 billion ($3.9 million).

In order to implement this payback, the Procuracy proposed seizing all shares of Binh and his family members, along with the funds used as evidence in the case.

Moreover, the agency proposed investigating the responsibility of Vo Thi Kim Anh (former DAB chief accountant) and Tran Huy Nam (former director of the DAB branch in Nam Dinh) in "deliberately acting against state regulations on economic management" and "abusing powers and positions for appropriation of property."

The Procuracy also proposed to clarify the responsibility of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), which approved DongA Bank to raise charter capital many times, and the inspectorate of Ho Chi Minh City's SBV, which had inspected the bank 13 times but did not detect the violations.

In this case, the defendants have caused a total damage of VND3.6 trillion ($156.5 million) to DongA Bank. Of this, Binh directed staff to forge documents and appropriate a total of VND2.057 trillion ($89.4 million) from the bank. After raising DAB's charter capital in 2013, Binh helped Vu to appropriate over VND200 billion ($8.7 million), as well as take out a loan of $13.4 million.

Currently, Binh has returned VND4 billion ($174,000), Vu Nhom paid back VND203 billion ($8.8 million). The agency has frozen 125 million DAB shares (equivalent to 24.88 per cent of DAB) held by Binh, Xuyen, Vu Nhom, Bac Nam Construction 79, and 18 individuals.