How did the former Chairman of Van Thinh Phat overcome the consequences after being sentenced to death?

On September 19, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City will open a criminal trial to try the case of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" related to the issuance of bonds in the case that occurred at An Dong Investment Group Joint Stock Company, Sunny World Investment and Development Joint Stock Company, Quang Thuan Investment Joint Stock Company, Ho Chi Minh City Commercial Services Joint Stock Company and related units (Van Thinh Phat case, phase 2).

In addition to the above charges, defendant Truong My Lan (former Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group) was also prosecuted for "Money laundering" and "Illegally transporting currency across borders".

According to the investigation conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency and the indictment of the Supreme People's Procuracy, defendant Lan proposed and directed subordinates to issue corporate bonds at the above companies in violation of the law to appropriate nearly VND31 trillion from 35,824 victims.

During the investigation, defendant Lan asked to take responsibility for his mistakes and to pay the bond debt to the bondholders (bond owners). In phase 2 of this case, defendant Lan was assessed by the prosecution agency as having changed in his awareness and legal consciousness, repented, proactively remedied part of the consequences, and compensated the bondholders for damages.

At the first-instance trial of the Van Thinh Phat case, phase 1, defendant Lan was sentenced to death by the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City for three crimes: "Embezzlement of property", "Bribery" and "Violation of regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions".

Based on this result, if defendant Lan is sentenced to death, how will the legitimate rights of bond investors whose assets were appropriated be resolved?

According to the investigation conclusion and indictment, there are many assets of defendant Lan related to the defendant Lan being seized and frozen with a converted value of more than 12 trillion VND. In addition, the investigation agency also seized other real estates of great value belonging to defendant Lan and related people as well as froze and prevented transactions of the money in the accounts of the defendants and others.

If added to the asset value of about 21 trillion VND that the first instance judgment of the Van Thinh Phat case, phase 1, ordered many individuals and organizations to pay back or repay to defendant Lan, which will be given priority to execute the judgment for the victims in the Van Thinh Phat case, phase 2, and the hundreds of billions of VND paid by defendant Lan's family and Van Thinh Phat Group to compensate on behalf of the defendant, it can be seen that the source of money to pay to the victims is more than 30 trillion VND.

In addition to the above sources, another financial source can also be used to overcome the consequences of the case. The investigation concluded that the defendant Lan wanted individuals and organizations related to the use of the bond mobilization money to have the same obligation with the defendant to ensure that all money is paid back to the people.

From a legal perspective, lawyer Do Thi Anh Tuyet (Hanoi Bar Association) analyzed that according to the provisions of Article 106 of the Criminal Procedure Code on the handling of evidence and Article 47 of the Penal Code on the confiscation of objects and money directly related to crimes, money obtained from crimes will be confiscated. As for money appropriated by criminals, it will not be confiscated but returned to the owner or legal manager.

Thus, the bond money is evidence of the case of fraud and appropriation of property and will be recovered to return to the bondholders. If all the above money is used to compensate for damages and remedy the consequences, the victims will certainly receive back their money invested in the bonds in the case.