On October 8, the first-instance trial of the case of “Fraudulent appropriation of property”, “Money laundering”, and “Illegal transportation of currency across the border” occurring at Van Thinh Phat Group Joint Stock Company (VTP), Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) and related units continued with the defense of the lawyers.
Defending defendant Vo Tan Hoang Van (former General Director of SCB), lawyer Le Hong Nguyen said that the defendant did not commit the crime of "Illegally transporting currency across the border".
Defendant Van signed 20 contracts, 13 debt repayment contracts, 7 consulting fee payment contracts.
During the process of signing these 20 contracts, SCB's procedures included money transfer orders and legal documents of the money transfer company in accordance with SCB's procedures submitted by Van's subordinates. Defendant Van did not know about the errors in these documents as alleged in the indictment.
The lawyer argued that in terms of the crime, the illegal transportation of goods across the border is by land, air, or sea. The method of transportation can be carried by human power or by means of transport. The currency as defined in Article 189 of the crime must be physical, not money on electronic means as is being tried in this case.
Defending defendant Ho Buu Phuong (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tan Viet Securities Joint Stock Company - TVSI, former Deputy General Director in charge of finance of VTP Group), lawyer Nguyen Thanh Cong said that the sentence proposed by the prosecutor for his client, 10-11 years in prison, was too harsh.
According to the lawyer, the defendant Phuong did not participate in the initial policy stage and the stage of selling to the victims. The defendant participated in the stage of supporting the issuance of bonds to investors. In the initial stage, Quang Thuan, An Dong, and Sunny World companies issued bonds to primary companies in accordance with the law.
However, in the later stages when running the cash flow, transferring bonds to TVSI and distributing and selling to more than 35,000 victims, there were violations. Defendant Phuong only received the policy and supported in issuing bonds, did not decide or direct other defendants to commit crimes.
Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Cong requested the jury to consider and review the aggravating circumstance of “organized crime”. In this case, defendant Phuong did not receive the policy from Truong My Lan, so he did not know the purpose of issuing the bonds.
Therefore, the lawyer said that the prosecutor's assessment that defendant Phuong committed an organized crime was inconsistent with the objective behavioral developments of the case.
Similarly, defending defendant To Thi Anh Dao (former Deputy General Director of VTP Group, who was proposed by the prosecutor to be sentenced to 30-36 months in prison), lawyer Nguyen Do Bao Chau stated that the investigation documents and statements were not sufficient to determine that the defendants colluded, assigned tasks, and divided tasks among themselves.
Therefore, the lawyer believes that there is not enough basis to apply the aggravating circumstance of “organized crime” as proposed by the representative of the prosecutor’s office, and requests the trial panel to re-evaluate. The lawyer also requests that the trial panel return, cancel the seizure, and prevent the defendant from confiscating the seized assets, frozen accounts, and real estate that are completely unrelated to the case.
CHI THACH - THANH CHUNG
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/vu-an-truong-my-lan-giai-doan-2-luat-su-cho-rang-cuu-tong-giam-doc-scb-khong-pham-toi-van-chuyen-tien-trai-phep-qua-bien-gioi-post762717.html
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