Many bank officials were negligent, allowing a woman to defraud them of billions of dong.

On January 31, the Hanoi People's Court opened the first-instance trial of Nguyen Anh Thang (31 years old) and Dao Hoang Hai (31 years old) on charges of fraud and appropriation of property, and forgery of seals and documents of organizations. The mastermind in the case, Nguyen Mai Anh, is currently undergoing mandatory psychiatric treatment.

According to the prosecution, in early April 2014, Mai Anh called an employee of Euro Auto Joint Stock Company to inquire about the procedures for buying a car. During the conversation, she said she needed to buy a BMW but had just given birth, so she couldn't come in person and would have someone contact the company to handle the procedures.

On April 3, 2014, following Mai Anh's instructions, Thang used a fake identity card to sign a contract to buy a BMW X5 worth 3.3 billion VND, paying a deposit of 30 million VND. More than a month later, Thang again impersonated someone else to buy a BMW 528i worth 2.5 billion VND, paying a deposit of 20 million VND.

Thang's actions were aimed at obtaining sample receipts and stamps from Euro Auto. Afterward, Mai Anh and her accomplices forged Euro Auto's documents to open accounts at An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank and Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank in preparation for withdrawing the money.After opening an account with Euro Auto, Mai Anh and her accomplices went to other banks to apply for loans.

According to the case file, around the same time, Thang impersonated Mr. Nguyen Van Chan - Deputy Director of Dong Do Trading and Service Development Company Limited - to borrow 1.5 billion VND from Bao Viet Commercial Joint Stock Bank to buy a car.

The bank agreed to lend money for 48 months with a BMW X5 car as collateral. Bao Viet then disbursed the funds into a fictitious loan account opened by Nguyen Van Chan at the same bank. Based on the payment order, the bank transferred 1.5 billion VND from that account to Euro Auto's account. Immediately afterwards, following Mai Anh's instructions, Hai used a fake identity card to go to An Binh Bank and withdraw the money using a (forged) Euro Auto check.

Using the same method, Mai Anh and her accomplices embezzled money from Bao Viet and several other banks, totaling 8.1 billion VND.

After the crime was discovered, Mai Anh suddenly developed a mental illness.The forensic examination concluded that she suffered from bipolar disorder in the severe depressive phase, leading to a loss of cognitive ability and behavioral control.

In 2016, the Hanoi People's Procuracy issued a decision to apply mandatory treatment measures. The investigating agency also separated the criminal case, temporarily suspended the investigation against the suspect, and will resume the investigation after the results of the mandatory treatment are available.

In court, Thang confessed that Mai Anh asked him to sign loan documents on her behalf. All loan procedures were carried out at Mai Anh's house, except for the signing of the payment authorization form, which took place at the bank. "I didn't receive any money from Mai Anh, but she had previously lent me 150 million VND, so I signed the loan documents," Thang stated.

Meanwhile, Hai admitted that, driven by greed, he followed Mai Anh's instructions to sign loan applications and withdraw money. After doing so, he received 50 million VND from Mai Anh.

The court assessed that Mai Anh's falsification of documents was highly sophisticated. However, the credit officers at the banks were negligent in failing to properly assess the collateral vehicle documents. The credit officers' misconduct could lead to criminal prosecution for the crime of Negligence Causing Serious Consequences. The banks' request to handle the credit officers' actions internally has facilitated their wrongdoing.

The court sentenced Thang to 20 years in prison and Hai to 18 years for the two charges.