On March 11, during the questioning of defendants Truong My Lan, Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group; Do Thi Nhan - former Director of the Banking Inspection and Supervision Department II (under the State Bank), there were times when the panel of judges and representatives of the People's Procuracy showed strong arguments when the defendants were evasive.
Driver transported more than 108,000 billion VND and 14.7 million USD from SCB to Van Thinh Phat
Unlike the sincere confessions of the defendants in the banking inspection group or the former leaders of SCB Bank, during the interrogation, defendant Truong My Lan stated that the indictment did not state the correct behavior and denied the content of holding 91% of shares at SCB Bank. Defendant Truong My Lan expressed her wish that the panel of judges should not use the term bank takeover.
After the representative of the People's Procuracy participated in the questioning, some defendants were former leaders of SCB Bank, defendant Lan stated that she and her family held less than 15% of shares, 30% were foreign shareholders, and about 30% were held by friends.
The panel cited the testimony of the defendants holding shares at SCB Bank, all confirming that the majority of the shares were under the name of Ms. Truong My Lan. However, defendant Truong My Lan said that during the investigation, sometimes her statements were correct, sometimes incorrect, and that she herself had never confirmed that she held 91% of the shares at SCB Bank.
During further questioning about the illegal withdrawal of money from SCB Bank and its transportation to her private home, there were times when defendant Truong My Lan beat around the bush and did not directly answer the panel of judges' questions.
According to the indictment, for nearly 7 months, from February 26 to September 12, 2022, driver Bui Van Dung transported more than 108,000 billion VND and nearly 14.7 million USD from SCB Bank to Van Thinh Phat Group, Ms. Lan's private home and delivered it to others under the direction of Ms. Truong My Lan.
However, when the judge asked about driver Bui Van Dung taking money home at the defendant's request, Ms. Truong My Lan beat around the bush, did not answer the question directly and said "I only found out about this number when I came here."
The judge continued to question: "Did Dung bring that much money to the defendant's house?", at this time Ms. Lan confirmed: "Yes, but I did not direct it."
It is worth mentioning that in the next development, when the People's Court summoned Tran Thi My Dung, former Deputy General Director of SCB Bank, to confront her, defendant Dung admitted that driver Bui Van Dung transported the money under the direction of Ms. Truong My Lan.
Passively received 5.2 million USD in 4 times?
During the afternoon trial, the representative of the People's Procuracy spent time questioning the defendants Tran Thi My Dung, former Deputy General Director of SCB Bank; Do Thi Nhan - former Director of the Banking Inspection and Supervision Department II.
During this questioning session, there were times when the Chief Judge showed strong reasoning with the defendant Do Thi Nhan.
Defendant Do Thi Nhan admitted to the act and the amount of bribes received as charged in the indictment, but hoped the panel of judges would consider the context when performing her duties.
When asked how many times she discussed with Ms. Truong My Lan when issuing the inspection conclusion, defendant Do Thi Nhan answered that she had met her twice, however, she explained that "there was no discussion about not putting SCB Bank under special control".
Defendant Do Thi Nhan admitted to receiving money from Vo Tan Hoang Van (former General Director of SCB Bank - PV) but stated that this was completely passive.
"Faced with the choice of safety for myself and my family by temporarily violating the law, the defendant accepted the money to ensure the safety of my family. The defendant only left the money he received in a corner of the house. After that, he contacted Van many times to return it, but Van did not come to get it," defendant Do Thi Nhan stated.
However, the panel of judges immediately interrupted the representative of the People's Procuracy and defendant Do Thi Nhan, and asked: "How many times did the defendant receive money?"
Answering this question, defendant Do Thi Nhan admitted that her previous testimony showed receiving money 4 times, totaling 5.2 million USD.
“Receiving money 4 times, how can you say it was passive? If you didn't consciously receive it, you would have received the money the first time and then returned it, but still received it the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time,” the judge questioned.
After 5 days of trial of defendant Truong My Lan and her accomplices, through questioning, most of the defendants belonging to the banking inspection group and former leaders of SCB Bank expressed their sincere confession.
On March 12, the 6th day of trial, the court continued to question the defendants to clarify their crimes.
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