Pham Cong Danh, ex-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB, present name CB), said before court that all the money involved in the case of “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing severe consequences” in VNCB was used to serve the bank’s operation, not personal purposes. 

Defendants at the court. 

In his last statement at the second-phase trial of the case in Ho Chi Minh City on February 1, Danh, who was also Chairman of the Board of Members and General Director of Thien Thanh Group, asked the judging council to look into and make clear how the money was spent. 

Danh said during the three-year restructuring of VNCB from 2012-2014, he mobilised a large amount of money to maintain the bank’s liquidity and improve its services. He added that he even poured all the capital of Thien Thanh Group, which was operated by his family over the past 50 years, into the bank. 

For his part, Tram Be, former Vice Chairman of Sacombank, said he did not deliberately violate the regulations, appealing to the judge to reduce the proposed jail sentence of five years. 

Both Danh and Be apologized to their families and colleagues for getting them involved them in the case. 

44 other defendants also asked for clemency from the judge. 

According to the indictment, in 2013 and 2014, Danh asked staffs of the VNCB and Thien Thanh Group to compile false documents in the names of 29 companies which were established in Danh’s name or others, in order to take loans from Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), Tien Phong (TPBank) and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). 

Danh used the money for personal purposes and was unable to refund. He and his accomplices also used VNCB’s money as collateral for loans from the banks. Their wrongdoings caused economic losses of more than 6.1 trillion VND (268.4 million USD) to the VNCB. 

On January 22, the municipal People’s Procuracy proposed a 30-year imprisonment sentence to Danh, Mai and Khuong, and a jail sentence of 5-6 years to Tram Be.

Other defendants will face a two-year suspended sentence to 23 years in prison. 

The trial is scheduled to conclude on February 7. 

VNA