Tram Be, former vice chairman of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank), may be sentenced to four to five years in prison on charges of economic mismanagement, reported the local media.

Tram Be (L), former vice chairman of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) and Pham Cong Danh (R), former chairman of Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB)

The HCMC People’s Court opened a hearing on July 24 against the 58-year-old Tram Be, along with Pham Cong Danh, aged 52, former chairman of Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB), which was renamed Construction Bank, and former general director of Thien Thanh Group, Phan Huy Khang aged 45, former general director of Sacombank, and 43 others.

They are alleged to have deliberately violated State regulations on economic management, resulting in serious losses.

A representative of the procuracy said on July 30 that Danh, on behalf of his company, directed his staff to illegally withdraw money from VNCB and falsify documents in the names of 29 companies owned by himself and others, in a bid to take out loans from Sacombank, BIDV and TPBank. This caused VNCB to have incurred hefty losses of over VND6.1 trillion (US$263.4 million), which have yet to be recovered.

As Danh is already serving a 30-year sentence for credit and financial violations that caused losses of over VND9 trillion (US$404 million) at VNCB following a September 2017 trial, the new sentence is to run concurrently.

According to the investigation, Danh visited Tram Be in 2013 and asked for help to borrow VND1.8 trillion from Sacombank for Danh’s six companies. Officials said Be agreed to lend the amount, while demanding that the VCB’s deposits at Sacombank be used as collateral for the loan.

According to officials, Be accompanied Danh to meet Phan Huy Khang, and ordered the then-CEO to allow Danh to borrow the money. The loan documents were signed off on by Be on April 2013.

At that time, Be knew that Danh could not borrow money from VNCB, but for the benefit of Sacombank the banker still asked his subordinates and other banking branches to lend to the six companies, according to prosecutors.

As Danh’s companies failed to pay back the loans, Sacombank took VND1.8 trillion from VNCB and an additional VND35 billion in interest. The police concluded that Be and 14 other employees of Sacombank broke the law by allowing Danh to borrow the initial money.

At that time, the State Bank of Vietnam said the loan did not cause financial losses to Sacombank and asked that the group be exempted from criminal charges. However, in February 2017 the central bank forced Be to resign as vice chairman of Sacombank.

According to prosecutors, there were extenuating circumstances for Be. He truthfully declared his violations, did not commit them for his own benefits, and was recognized for his many achievements at work.

Therefore, prosecutors proposed Be could serve four to five years in jail, compared with the suggestion of five or six years during the first instance hearing held earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the former general director of Sacombank Khang, who took Be’s messages to the bank’s branches and then approved the loan for Danh, could be given a three to four-year prison sentence.

VNCB’s former general director, Phan Thanh Mai, whom Danh asked to meet with leaders of the three banks and their branches in order to borrow loans for Danh’s 29 companies, also signed credit contracts with the banks.

Mai was accused of having assisted Danh in withdrawing VND6 trillion from VNCB and deposit it in the banks, though Danh allegedly managed to withdraw all the money.

Prosecutors argued that Mai committed a series of unlawful acts and helped Danh cause great damage to VNCB. As such, Mai could face an additional sentence of 12-14 years, raising his total to 30 years behind bars, when added on to his previous jail term.

Mai Huu Khuong, former director of VNCB’s Saigon branch, was accused of falsifying contracts of credit, the sales of building materials and bond sales, so that Danh’s companies could borrow money from the banks. As such, Khuong could face 30 years behind bars if a supposed 10 to 12-year jail term is handed down in this trial.

Nguyen Viet Ha, general director of the Loc Viet Fund, could be sentenced to six or seven years in prison, as he was alleged to have assisted Danh in carrying out numerous illegal acts. Ha was entrusted with VND903 billion from VNCB to purchase the bonds for Thien Thanh Group.

Other defendants, who were directors on paper of the 16 companies, could face non-custodial sentences of three to six years in prison.

SGT