Defendant Nguyen Cao Tri confessed about 'turning the tables' after Ms. Truong My Lan was arrested.

On March 11, Ho Chi Minh City People's Court continued the trial of Ms. Truong My Lan and her accomplices.

After 4 days of absence from court, this morning, defendant Nguyen Cao Tri was brought to court to clarify the act of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property".

Responding to the questioning of the People's Court, defendant Nguyen Cao Tri admitted to the acts as charged in the indictment.

Defendant Nguyen Cao Tri. Photo: Nguyen Hue

Defendant Tri stated that he had known Ms. Truong My Lan since the end of 2017. Later, when they cooperated, Ms. Lan transferred about 807 billion VND to the defendant, but in January 2021, when they sat down to agree on the fees, the amount Ms. Lan transferred was rounded to 1,000 billion VND.

According to Mr. Tri's testimony, after hearing the news that Ms. Truong My Lan had been arrested, the defendant was very confused because he was afraid that if an incident occurred, the amount of money that Ms. Lan had transferred would be doubled. In addition, the defendant was afraid of the risk for Ms. Lan, because she asked a broker to be her name, not her name on the contract.

“At that time, the defendant thought that he should make Ms. Lan’s name public for her benefit. The defendant also wanted to separate himself from Ms. Lan’s system, so he made a decision that led to the violation. Subjectively, the defendant thought that his actions were not about appropriating Ms. Lan’s money.

Before being prosecuted, the defendant knew that what he did was wrong and had repeatedly wanted to return the money to Ms. Lan but was not accepted. After being prosecuted, the defendant returned more than 800 billion and had more than 300 billion in assets frozen. At this trial, the defendant wishes to continue using cash to recover the entire amount for Ms. Lan," Mr. Tri explained about his actions.

Also according to Mr. Tri's testimony, the people that the defendant directed to liquidate the contract with Ms. Lan did not know the purpose of this.

In this case, Ms. Truong My Lan was the victim when Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri appropriated 1,000 billion VND. Photo: Nguyen Hue

At the trial, defendant Tri asked the panel of judges and the investigation agency to assist in recovering the amount of 1,500 billion VND that 400 individuals and businesses owe. However, the panel of judges announced that debt collection is under the jurisdiction of another case, and the defendant can request the investigation agency to handle it.

In court, Ms. Truong My Lan stated that the relationship between her and defendant Tri was that of friends helping each other.

“When I was arrested, I did not know anything. I am very grateful to the investigating agency for investigating Nguyen Cao Tri for embezzling my money. However, up to now, Mr. Tri has remedied the consequences, I have no comments, I hope the jury will consider leniency for him,” said Ms. Truong My Lan.

According to the accusation, from 2017 to 2020, Ms. Truong My Lan cooperated with Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri to invest in projects and buy shares in some of Mr. Tri's companies. This included an agreement to transfer 65% of the charter capital of the Industrial Rubber Company for 45 million USD. After that, Ms. Lan paid Mr. Tri 21.25 million USD, equivalent to more than 476 billion VND, to buy 31.22% of the charter capital that Mr. Tri owned.

Because the shares of the Industrial Rubber Company had not been transferred within 5 years, Mr. Tri and Ms. Lan agreed to sign an "investment trust contract" and let Mr. Ho Quoc Minh (an acquaintance and broker of Ms. Lan) be the name on the contract.

Next, Ms. Lan agreed with Mr. Tri to buy 100% of the charter capital of Saigon Dai Ninh Company for 3,000 billion VND. Ms. Lan deposited and transferred money to Mr. Tri 5 times, totaling 20 million USD, equivalent to more than 463 billion VND.

In addition, Mr. Tri and Ms. Lan also agreed to let Ms. Lan participate in investing in a project in Hai Ha district, Quang Ninh province, and pay according to the progress of expenses. Ms. Lan paid Mr. Tri twice, a total of 9.5 million USD, equivalent to more than 220 billion VND.

In January 2021, Mr. Tri met Ms. Lan to agree to finalize the investments that Mr. Tri received, totaling 1,000 billion VND. To ensure trust and confidence, Mr. Tri agreed to transfer to Ms. Lan 10% of the charter capital of Van Lang Company and agreed with Ms. Lan to let Ho Quoc Minh own the shares. This transfer was not recorded in the accounting system.

The total amount of money that Mr. Tri received from Ms. Lan through many cooperations was 1,000 billion VND. However, after Ms. Lan was arrested, Mr. Tri drafted documents to adjust the price and liquidate all contracts to transfer 10% of the charter capital of Van Lang Company signed according to the agreement with Ms. Lan, appropriating the amount of 1,000 billion VND.

Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri appeared for the first time after being accused of swindling 1,000 billion VND.

After Ms. Truong My Lan was arrested, Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri "turned the tables" and liquidated the entire contract to transfer 10% of the charter capital of Van Lang Company that he had signed to appropriate 1,000 billion VND from her.

Ms. Truong My Lan, Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri and million dollar deals

The first meeting between Ms. Truong My Lan and Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri was in 2017, through an acquaintance named Ho Quoc Minh. The multi-million dollar deals between Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri and Ms. Truong My Lan also started from here.

Defendant Truong My Lan burst into tears, pleaded not guilty, and denied the testimony of her subordinates.

Defendant Truong My Lan burst into tears and denied the testimony of her subordinates, affirming that she did not direct SCB's activities, nor did she direct the establishment of "ghost" companies to withdraw SCB's money.

Source