Bank credit officer accused of "taking advantage of property appropriation"

(Baonghean) - Bank representatives contact customers to receive and evaluate initial documents. If credit officers violate professional ethics, the bank will suffer losses and its reputation will be affected. Regarding the case of a female credit officer at the Agribank Nghi Phu Transaction Office being denounced by a customer... it is necessary to clarify the act of taking advantage of customers' trust.

Mr. Le Viet Cuong, residing at K7, Quan Bau Ward (Vinh City) sent a complaint to Nghe An Newspaper, stating: On September 21, 2015, Pham Thi Huyen Chi - a credit officer at Agribank Nghi Phu Transaction Office (Hamlet 7, Nghi Phu Commune, Vinh City) introduced and brought Mr. Cuong and his wife, Ms. Vuong Thi Bich Ha, to Mr. Nguyen Canh Hai's house (pawn shop at No. 63, Le Hoan Street, Vinh City) to borrow 3.5 billion VND to pay the bank.

After receiving the money from Mr. Hai, Pham Thi Huyen Chi borrowed the entire amount with the reason "to change the contract for the customer" and promised to return it 2 days later so that Mr. Cuong and his wife could pay the bank. However, after the deadline, this female credit officer still did not return it; she postponed it day after day. On September 29, 2015, Pham Thi Huyen Chi and her father went to Mr. Nguyen Canh Hai's house to write a commitment to repay the debt of 3.5 billion VND. This female credit officer left behind a BMW worth 1.1 billion VND, a 2-story house worth 800 million VND and 100 million VND in cash; the remaining debt to Mr. Hai was 1.5 billion VND.

Ms. Vuong Thi Bich Ha (wife of Mr.Mr. Le Viet Cuong, residing at K7, Quan Bau wardpresent the matter to the reporter).

On October 13, 2015, Mr. Nguyen Canh Hai asked Mr. Cuong and his wife to come to discuss the payment of 1.5 billion VND that Pham Thi Huyen Chi had written a debt repayment note. Surprised by this incident, Mr. Cuong and his wife contacted Pham Thi Huyen Chi many times to resolve the matter but failed. Because the pawnshop owner continuously pressured him to pay, Mr. Cuong wrote a complaint accusing Pham Thi Huyen Chi of "Abusing trust to appropriate property" and sent it to the authorities...

Asking the question of why there was such a strange loan of up to 3.5 billion VND? Ms. Vuong Thi Bich Ha presented documents related to the loan and said that for many years, she and her husband have been customers borrowing capital from the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development - Vinh City Branch; Pham Thi Huyen Chi is a credit officer who processed the loan application. The current loan amount of the couple from Agribank Vinh City is 3.5 billion VND; the repayment deadline is September 2015. Ms. Vuong Thi Bich Ha said: Once a year, when the repayment deadline comes, we perform the deed reversal (pay off the old debt and borrow a new loan). This year, when the deadline comes, we don't have the money and Ms. Chi introduced us to a temporary loan place to perform the deed reversal. Thinking that she was a credit officer at the bank where we borrowed from, we listened to her.

When we met Mr. Hai, we made a loan paper, Ms. Chi was the guarantor (leaving the BMW car papers) and was the one holding the money. Then my husband had to go home, I went with her to the bank to change the deed. Here, Ms. Chi did not transfer the money to the bank but said "I borrowed this money to change the file for a woman I know first, 2 days later I will change the deed for you and your husband". Hearing Ms. Chi say that, I called my husband to ask for his opinion. Mr. Cuong replied "let Ms. Chi do it" so I agreed. The incident then happened as we stated in the application...".

To clarify the information provided by the complainant, we tried to meet the female credit officer Pham Thi Huyen Chi but were unable to. The staff of Agribank Vinh City and the province both confirmed that this female credit officer was laid off by Agribank Central for 2.5 months (from October 22, 2015 to January 15, 2016); when receiving the complaint, they tried to contact her by phone many times but could not reach her.

Regarding the personal background of Pham Thi Huyen Chi, according to Mr. Ngo Anh Tuan - Director of Agribank Vinh City Branch, this female credit officer is an excellent officer in all aspects. “She was born in 1984, joined the profession in 2004, and has worked in the credit department for about 5 years. Chi's husband is a businessman, both families have good economic conditions, Chi always completes her tasks excellently, even surpassing everyone else. Chi is currently managing 13 customers. When the incident happened, we verified the loans of these customers and they were all guaranteed, they also assured that Chi had no problems with money…” - Mr. Ngo Anh Tuan discussed.

Content of the Internal Audit Department of Agribank province working with him Le Van Cuong

Regarding the complaint of Mr. Le Van Cuong, Mr. Ngo Anh Tuan confirmed that it was an “external” transaction between the two people and had nothing to do with the bank. As stated in the complaint, Ms. Chi took advantage of the trust of customers to borrow money, reverse contracts, etc.

Those actions are against the professional ethics of a credit officer, shouldn't the bank check and clarify? Mr. Ngo Anh Tuan said: In this case, the provincial Agribank assigned the Internal Inspection Department to verify the petition; on December 1, the Department organized a meeting between the relevant parties, but because Mr. Cuong was working far away, it had to be postponed... "We could not contact Chi but often asked about the situation through relatives and knew that everyone was focusing on solving this problem. The incident was regrettable, but if she violated the law, the bank will handle it according to regulations..." - Mr. Tuan added.

On the morning of December 7, 2015, the Internal Inspection Department of Agribank province organized a meeting between the relevant parties, however, only Mr. Le Van Cuong attended while Pham Thi Huyen Chi was absent. The reason, according to Mr. Nguyen The Hung - Head of the Internal Inspection Department of Agribank province, was that "Ms. Chi's husband said that she is currently taking care of her young child who is being treated at the Swedish Children's Hospital (Hanoi) and cannot return home".

The content of the meeting is shown in the minutes, accordingly, Agribank province acknowledged the content of Mr. Le Van Cuong's application, but determined that the borrowing of money was a "voluntary" agreement between the two parties; because Pham Thi Huyen Chi is on leave according to the decision of the General Director of Agribank Central until January 15, 2016, when she returns to work, she will be required to clearly report the incident; regarding the content, Mr. Cuong requested Agribank to resolve to ensure the rights of citizens, because Pham Thi Huyen Chi is an officer of the bank, Agribank Vinh city and the province, from the viewpoint of not covering up officers who do wrong, will be responsible for urging and finding solutions for this credit officer to return the money...

So, is it true that credit officer Pham Thi Huyen Chi took advantage of the trust of customers? Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen The Hung said: “This is an external issue so we cannot determine it. Although we cannot contact Ms. Chi, we know that her family is currently focusing on overcoming the consequences; Mr. Cuong is no longer stressed when he comes to work. Moreover, he has sent a petition to many places, including law enforcement agencies. If these agencies clarify that Ms. Chi has committed a violation, we will handle the officer…”.

Bank staff contact customers to receive and evaluate initial documents (Internet photo).

Credit officers are the first to contact and evaluate customer files of the bank; if they lack professional ethics, for personal gain or intentionally violate the law, the bank will have to bear unpredictable consequences. In the case of a female officer of the Agribank Nghi Phu Transaction Office who was accused by a customer, because the accused was absent, the content of "taking advantage of trust to appropriate property" could not be determined. However, this is an issue that Agribank Vinh City and the province need to pay attention to clarify and should not wait for law enforcement agencies. Only by doing so, in addition to demonstrating the role of responsibility in management, can the bank rectify its staff!

Ha Giang