Sacombank chairman clears the air on Van Thinh Phat allegations

During Sacombank's AGM on April 26 in Ho Chi Minh City, Minh took the opportunity to directly address recent rumours with shareholders.

The shareholders were keenly anticipating Minh's clarification on rumours about an alleged travel ban related to Van Thinh Phat and Truong My Lan.

Minh, who is also the largest shareholder in Sacombank, stated, "I am in no way connected to Truong My Lan or her affairs. The case concerning Lan has been concluded by investigation, with indictments issued by the prosecutor and processed by the court."

"I am not linked to a single word, punctuation, or any part of the investigation's conclusion," Minh asserted, suggesting the rumours were the product of personal grievances.

The rumours started spreading on social media on April 1, alleging Minh's involvement in money laundering with Truong My Lan. Sacombank immediately declared the information false and defamatory towards the bank’s leadership.

On the evening of April 2, shortly after Sacombank's shares experienced a sell-off due to the rumours, the Ministry of Public Security confirmed that Minh was not on its travel ban list.

Major General To An Xo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Security, refuted all false information aiming to disrupt and negatively affect the normal operations of the financial and banking systems. He assured that any such acts of spreading misinformation would be detected and strictly dealt with according to the law.

Minh, born in 1960, holds a degree in economics from the National Economics University. He has a diverse background, including a stint as an import-export officer with the Ministry of Defence and later as the director of a construction enterprise within the ministry. Before joining Sacombank's board, Minh served as chairman of LienVietPostBank (now LPBank) for several years, later divesting his nearly 15 per cent stake in the bank.

Elected as chairman of Sacombank in 2017, Minh withdrew from Him Lam and three other companies in early 2018 to focus on the bank's restructuring efforts.

At the AGM, the focus also turned to Sacombank's profit distribution plan, indicating that despite a substantial consolidated after-tax profit of about $238.17 million (VND5.716 trillion), the bank's cumulative retained earnings have reached approximately $765.71 million (VND18.387 trillion). Despite this, Sacombank has postponed dividend distributions for the current year due to unresolved bad debts.

The bank has petitioned for permission to auction off its non-performing loans, a move which would facilitate capital restoration post-sale.

Looking forward, Sacombank has set ambitious goals for 2024, aiming for 10 per cent growth in total assets to about $30.17 billion (VND724.1 trillion).