HCM City (VNA) – A 20-yearprison term has been proposed for Pham Cong Danh, ex-Chairman of the Board ofDirectors of the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB), for his involvement in thecase of “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management,causing severe consequences” at VNCB.

The People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh Cityproposed penalties for Danh and 45 other defendants on July 30.

This is the second phase of the case and involvesDanh (who is also Chairman of the Board of Members and General Director ofThien Thanh Group), Tram Be (former Vice Chairman of Saigon Thuong TinCommercial JSB, also known as Sacombank), as well as 44 accomplices. 

In this phase, they are accused of causingeconomic losses of more than 6.1 trillion VND (263.73 million USD) to VNCB. Thefirst phase involved losses of 9 trillion VND (389 million USD).

The trial opened in January 2018, however onFebruary 7, the court decided to return the dossier of the case and requestfurther investigation. The first-instance trial was resumed on July 24.

The procuracy said the interrogation outcomesand evidence showed that Danh and his accomplices had received the right totransfer bank shares from Hua Thi Phan, former senior advisor of the managementboard of Trust Bank, and her accessories.

The reception of an underperforming bank, thepressure to raise charter capital, and the spending of bank funds on lookingafter clients were some of the key reasons that led Danh and his accomplices tocommit a series of violations.

In particular, Danh used 29 companiesestablished in his or other people’s names to borrow money from Sacombank,TPBank, and BIDV. Following that, he deposited VNCB money in these three banksas guarantees for the 29 companies’ loans, causing over 6.1 trillion VND inlosses to VNCB.

According to the procuracy, Tram Be and Phan HuyKhang (former General Director of Sacombank) directly discussed and agreed tolend Danh 1.8 trillion VND (77.83 million USD), but they asked Danh to useVNCB’s money to guarantee the loans and ordered their subordinates to carry outlending procedures.

When approving the loans, Be and Khang wereaware that Danh was VNCB Chairman, which meant under the Law on CreditInstitutions, he was not allowed to use his bank’s money as guarantees toreceive loans from other credit organisations. However, they stillintentionally ignored this rule and created conditions for Danh to borrowmoney, leading to substantial losses to VNCB.

The HCM City procuracy said Danh was themastermind and played the decisive role in this case. It proposed 20 yearsimprisonment for him. Given his 30-year prison term announced in the firstphase of the case, Danh will have to serve 30 years in prison (the highestlevel for a fixed prison sentence) if the court accepts the proposal.

Meanwhile, it was proposed that Tram Be beimprisoned for four to five years, Pham Huy Khang for three to four years, PhanThanh Mai (former General Director of VNCB) 12-14 years (which, if accepted,would go up to a 30 year sentence including the first-phase penalty).

Other defendants were proposed to receive betweentwo years of suspended sentence to 30 years of imprisonment.

Regarding asset recovery, the procuracy held itsdecision that the over 6.1 trillion VND be recovered from the three banks and returned to VNCB, now the Construction Bank. –VNA