The surprising reason of the former female General Director of SJC after the illegal gold bar processing case
Defendant Le Thuy Hang said that when she took over as General Director of SJC, the company was facing many difficulties. Three years later, under her “steering”, the company developed strongly. The defendant asserted that her actions were to “take care of the lives of her colleagues”.
On the afternoon of September 25, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City continued to try defendant Le Thuy Hang (55 years old, former General Director of Saigon Jewelry Company - SJC) and 15 accomplices for the crimes of "Embezzlement of property" and "Abuse of position and power while performing official duties". The trial entered the questioning phase.
Responding to the Council of Judges’ questioning, the defendant Hang initially evaded and did not admit to the crime. The defendant said that the increase in the loss rate in gold bar processing was not intended to be malicious, but only to ensure that if there was a deficit, there would be gold to compensate.
Defendant Hang also stated that when she took over as General Director of SJC, the company was facing difficulties, but 3 years later, under her “steering”, SJC developed strongly. The defendant affirmed that her actions were to “take care of the lives of her colleagues”.
In response to this answer, the judge asked: “The defendant said he was worried about his brothers’ lives. So, does the defendant know how much he benefited from the case?” At this time, the defendant Hang mumbled: “I apologize” and admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment.
Regarding the act of bringing in raw gold from outside to produce SJC gold bars against regulations and then selling them on the market for profit, Ms. Hang stated that she did not know how the gold factory employees processed them.
In addition, Ms. Hang said that she had repaired 20 billion VND and would continue to influence her family to repair more damage.
The accusation determined that SJC Company was assigned by the State Bank to produce and reprocess dented gold bars, produce SJC gold rings and sell SJC gold bars to stabilize prices.
Despite close supervision by the State Bank, taking advantage of loopholes, Ms. Hang and her subordinates still imported raw gold from outside to produce SJC gold bars against regulations, sold them on the market, and earned tens of billions of dong in profits.
In addition, Ms. Hang also directed defendant Nguyen Thi Hue (Director of SJC Hai Phong Branch) to purchase raw gold from outside and hand it over to defendant Tran Tan Phat (former Deputy Director of Tan Thuan Gold Factory) to produce more than 11,503 taels of SJC gold rings, in violation of regulations.
Ms. Hang was also accused of instructing the Director of SJC Hai Phong Branch, the Director of SJC Central Branch and the Head of SJC Gold Trading Department to sell only a portion of the gold used for price stabilization to customers, keeping the rest for sale outside at a higher price than listed, in violation of regulations.
In addition to gold production, Ms. Hang was also accused of masterminding the appropriation of 95 taels of gold from SJC.
According to the indictment, in mid-2024, the State Bank delivered two batches, a total of 10 tons of raw gold to SJC Company to process and produce SJC gold bars. However, Ms. Hang directed Mai Quoc Uy Vien (former Director of Tan Thuan Gold Factory) and Phat to create a "false" report, increasing the loss rate in processing gold bars.
The defendants, who were formerly subordinates of Ms. Hang, including Tran Tan Phat, Tran Hien Phuc (former Chief Accountant of SJC Company), Nguyen Thi Hue, Mai Quoc Uy Vien... all admitted to committing the crimes as charged in the indictment. However, they stated that they only acted at the request of former General Director Le Thuy Hang.
