"Beauty" of bank cried and begged not to be sentenced to life in prison

On the afternoon of July 6, the People's Court of Nghe An province continued to open the first-instance criminal trial of defendant Nguyen Thi Lam (born 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.

Nguyen Thi Lam cried and begged for a lighter sentence. Photo: Khanh An

After the debate ended, the first instance trial panel allowed the 16 defendants to have their final say in turn before deliberating.

The first defendant to have the last word was Nguyen Thi Lam (31 years old, former employee of Do Luong Transaction Office, EximBank Branch in Vinh City) - proposed to be sentenced to life in prison for fraud and appropriation of property, burst into tears talking about her family situation.

Lam expressed remorse, apologized to relatives, colleagues, customers and Eximbank branch, and asked for a lighter sentence to help him rebuild his life and work with his family to overcome the consequences of his actions.

Next, defendant Dang Dinh Hong (45 years old, former Director of Eximbank Do Luong transaction office, residing in Trang Son commune, Do Luong district) was proposed to be sentenced from 36 to 39 months in prison for the crime of intentionally violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences. He also apologized to Eximbank employees and bank and asked for leniency from the law.

Defendant Dang Dinh Hong asked for a suspended sentence. Photo: Khanh An

The other 14 defendants, who were also proposed to be sentenced to prison for the crime of intentionally violating State regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences, all cried, apologized, and explained their difficult circumstances, asking for a suspended sentence so they could take care of their children and parents.

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 like paying interest, bonuses to customers and mixing these procedures with documents such as: Payment orders, cash statements, payment authorizations for customers to sign for fictitious reasons. 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.

Overview of the trial. Photo: Khanh An

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 processed procedures for Lam to withdraw and transfer money even though the customer was holding the savings book 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 first instance trial panel of the People's Court of Nghe An province said that because the case has many complicated details that require a lot of time for deliberation, the verdict will be announced at 2:00 p.m. on July 13.