Many loopholes in the fraud scheme of the "beautiful" banker were exposed.
(Baonghean.vn) - On the first day of the trial of Nguyen Thi Lam - former officer of Eximbank Do Luong, the statements of the defendant and related people clearly showed many loopholes of this bank in controlling transactions with customers.
On June 26, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened 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.
Defendant Lam was prosecuted for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property", 15 officers and employees of Eximbank Do Luong Transaction Office and Eximbank Vinh branch were prosecuted for the crime of "Intentionally violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences".
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| 16 defendants on trial in the case of Nghe An "beauty" who embezzled more than 50 billion VND. Photo: Phuong Thao |
The 50-page indictment of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province shows that from 2012 to 2016, Nguyen Thi Lam appropriated a total of more than 50 billion VND in savings accounts of 6 VIP customers.
According to the indictment and the testimonies of the defendants and related people at the trial on June 26, Eximbank Do Luong revealed many loopholes, creating opportunities for Nguyen Thi Lam to successfully commit crimes.
Defendant Dang Dinh Hong - former Director of Eximbank Do Luong Transaction Office directed and approved employees to withdraw savings deposits in violation of regulations such as customers not being present in person, not having savings cards, not having identity cards, not having authorization letters. The verification of the customer's signature on the payment order with the signature registered on the Korebank system was not strict. 15 other defendants also participated in the payment of money on the payment orders.
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| Defendant Nguyen Thi Lam. Photo: Phuong Thao |
Taking advantage of the trust of colleagues and loopholes in the bank's transaction control, defendant Nguyen Thi Lam easily withdrew and transferred money even though the customer was holding the savings book and the customer was not present.
Defendant Le Thi Thu Ha - a teller assigned to work at Eximbank Do Luong transaction office from December 7, 2015 to December 26, 2015 stated, "I was temporarily assigned to work here for 3 weeks. During this time, I did not ask customers to come to the office and provide their ID cards. I made 3 payment orders with a total amount of 1 billion 352 million 520 thousand VND." The other defendants all said that because they trusted Lam and the leadership's direction, they withdrew money from customers' savings books with payment orders.
When the lawyer asked defendant Lam "why was the defendant allowed to deal with customers?", defendant Lam replied "the department leader allowed and agreed".
The lawyer asked defendant Dang Dinh Hong "why was defendant Lam allowed to conduct transactions with customers against regulations?". Defendant Hong replied "Those are VIP customers, employees also have pressure to meet targets...", the pressure to meet targets here was explained by defendant Hong to include both capital mobilization and lending targets.
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| Defendant Dang Dinh Hong answers his lawyer's question. Photo: Phuong Thao |
After listening to the defendants' statements, the presiding judge said that "the VIP here is defendant Lam, not the customers", because Lam had committed too many acts beyond his authority and against regulations.
After the incident, 6 VIP customers involved requested Eximbank to close the savings books they had deposited at the bank. Eximbank affirmed that it would guarantee the rights of customers who deposited savings at the bank. However, the case is still under trial, so the bank refused to let customers close their savings books.
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| In the court sessions, representatives of Eximbank participated as civil plaintiffs in the case. Photo: Phuong Thao |
Although she had divorced her husband, in the trial on June 26, Mr. Nguyen Huy Luong and Ms. Le Thi Yen - Lam's parents-in-law were summoned to determine the money flow because previously during the investigation, Lam confessed to using 2.1 billion VND out of more than 50 billion VND she had embezzled to build a house for her parents-in-law.
The trial is expected to last four days.