The three accused foreigners are Chu Lap Co (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Times Square Investment JSC. and My Lan’s husband), Lee George Lam (former member of the Board of Directors of Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) – currently absconding), and Henry Sun Ka Ziang (former Vice Chairman of SCB’s Board of Directors – currently absconding).

C03 prosecutes Chu Lap Co for ‘Violating regulations on banking activities and other bank-related activities’ as he had helped his wife to cause over VND9 trillion (US$372.2 million) damage to SCB. He is the main shareholder (with 99.26 percent of the shares) in Times Square Investment JSC. and holds the highest decision-making role.

From December 2012 to December 2014, Truong My Lan directed individuals in SCB, Van Thinh Phat Group, and Times Square Investment JSC. to prepare false loan documents to disburse 73 loan amounts (worth VND29 trillion - $1.2 billion) for 67 clients. When the due date came, no debt was paid, and no source of principal recovery was identified.

In 2017, Chu Lap Co signed the minute of the general shareholder meeting to continue using assets from the projects of Times Square Investment JSC. as a mortgage to ensure the debt payment obligation of the clients borrowing VND35 trillion ($1.48 billion) at max from SCB then.

On October 17, 2022, there were still 46 unpaid loan sums of 46 SCB clients with the principal balance and interest of more than VND19.5 trillion ($806 million) and VND19.6 trillion ($811 million), respectively. The total outstanding debt came to VND39 trillion ($1.61 billion). The total value of loan collateral assets that Co had signed to validate SCB loan procedures is more than VMD30 trillion ($1.24 billion), which means a loss of VND trillion ($372.2 million) to SCB, as stated by C03. So far, he has only paid VND1 billion ($41,350) to fix the problem.

Defendant Lee George Lam

Meanwhile, C03 reports that Lee George Lam signed 8 voting minutes of the Board of Directors to greenlight 68 SCB loan accounts and 66 clients of Van Thinh Phat ecosystem, with a principal balance and interest of more than VND28 trillion ($1.16 billion) and VND25 trillion ($1 billion) respectively. The total asset value to secure the loans signed by this person to validate the procedure was VND34 trillion ($1.4 billion).

C03 states that Lee George Lam took advantage of his position and power to actively help Truong My Lan to appropriate SCB’s money by participating in signing and approving loans from individuals and legal entities of Van Thinh Group, which causes a damage of over VND19 trillion ($785.7 million).

Defendant Sun Henry Ka Ziang

Sun Henry Ka Ziang is also accused of the same crime as Lee George Lam, causing a damage of more than VND462 trillion ($19.1 billion) to SCB.

Both Sun Henry Ka Ziang and Lee George Lam have left Vietnam, and their whereabouts are unknown. There are no results of criminal legal assistance for these two people. Therefore, C03 has separated the case and temporarily halted investigations related to these two.

In addition, the inter-disciplinary investigation team, formed by the State Bank of Vietnam to examine the SCB case, reported that when carrying out his duty, Nguyen Van Hung (former Deputy Chief Inspector in charge of the Banking Supervision and Inspection Agency) directed Do Thi Nhan and the group to develop the draft inspection report to omit certain content and to present no proposals to SCB’s violations. Hung declared that his decision was to help SCB to continue implementing restructuring measures.

However, his act led to the State Bank of Vietnam and the Government not acquiring sufficient information and documents to precisely handle law offenses related to SCB and to stop wrongdoings of Truong My Lan and her accomplices. During that process, Hung received a total bribe of $390,000 from SCB.

Source: Saigon Times