Bank beauty proposed to be sentenced to life in prison

On July 5, the People's Court of Nghe An province continued to open the first-instance criminal trial of defendant Nguyen Thi Lam (born in 1987), former employee of the Do Luong Transaction Office, branch of the Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank) in Vinh City and 15 other defendants in the case of "embezzling" more than 50 billion VND.

Before entering the debate, the representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province requested the first instance panel of judges to sentence Nguyen Thi Lam to life in prison for fraud and property appropriation. The other 15 defendants were proposed to be sentenced to prison for intentionally violating the State's regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences.

Defendant Nguyen Thi Lam. Photo:Khanh An

Among them, the defendant proposed to receive the lightest sentence of 6 to 9 months of non-custodial reform is defendant Bui Van Truong (44 years old, former controller of Eximbank Do Luong Transaction Office; residing in Le Mao Ward, Vinh City). The defendant proposed to receive the heaviest sentence for the above crime is Dang Dinh Hong (45 years old, former Director of Eximbank Do Luong Transaction Office; residing in Trang Son Commune, Do Luong District) proposed to receive from 36 to 39 months in prison.

Defendant Lam burst into tears at the witness stand after hearing the prosecutor request a life sentence. However, defendant Lam did not defend himself but allowed his two lawyers to defend him.

Lam's defense attorney argued that defendant Lam only appropriated more than 36 billion VND, not nearly 50 billion VND as charged in the indictment, and that his behavior was dishonest; the proposed life sentence was too harsh. The defense attorney also stated that defendant Lam only withdrew the money to invest in business and then returned it, but initially had no intention of appropriating it, and argued that Lam's cash flow had not been clarified...

Therefore, the defense attorney for defendant Lam requested the panel of judges to return the case file for further investigation.

Defendant Lam agreed with the lawyer's defense but asked for a reduced sentence.

The first instance panel of judges held that the defendant should continue to debate the views of the representative of the People's Procuracy and request the panel of judges to consider the matter later because the defendant Lam's lawyer requested to return the case file for further investigation, but the defendant Lam requested to consider a lenient sentence for the defendant.

Defendant Dang Dinh Hong. Photo: Khanh An

On the afternoon of July 5, defendant Hong stood up to defend himself and mentioned the difficulties of the bank branch, lack of staff, pressure to mobilize deposits... Defendant Hong also said that he himself did not directly instruct defendant Lam.

“I myself am the director of the transaction office, but when there was no one to replace me, I had to act as a prosecutor. I did not directly deal with customers but only indirectly on documents and books. Ignoring the fraud factor of defendant Lam, at that time we were actually praised by our superiors for capital growth and outstanding debt growth. I myself have only been the branch director for 3 years, but leading to being in legal trouble today is very painful. I have devoted all my efforts to the development of the bank. The customers themselves must also be responsible in this case... I and the 15 employees who are defendants today did not gain a single penny. I hope the panel of judges will consider giving me a suspended sentence,” defendant Hong defended.

As reported, according to the indictment of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province, from 2012 to 2016, Nguyen Thi Lam took advantage of customers' trust, deceived customers into signing payment orders, signed fake payment authorizations, and payment statements.

Every time he needed a customer's signature, Lam used tricks such as paying interest and bonuses to customers and mixing these procedures with documents such as payment orders, cash statements, and payment authorizations for customers to sign. Then, Lam took them back to legalize withdrawals or money transfers.

There are also many cases where Lam forged customers' signatures and then took them to bank employees, lying that he would withdraw and transfer money on behalf of the customers.

Due to trust in Lam and with the loose direction and management of Dang Dinh Hong - former Director of Eximbank Do Luong Transaction Office, bank employees completed procedures for Lam to withdraw and transfer money even though the customer's savings book was in their possession and the customer was not present.

Using the above tricks, Lam withdrew deposits of 6 customers in Nghe An in the Eximbank system with a total amount of more than 50 billion VND.

The trial is continuing with deliberations.