VIP customer had more than 385 billion VND stolen by bank staff
Huynh Tan Luat, a bank officer, borrowed hundreds of billions of dong from a female tycoon and then forged documents accusing her of borrowing his money to default on the debt.
The behavior of Luat (48 years old, former head of the transaction office of a commercial bank) was mentioned by the Ministry of Public Security in the investigation conclusion, transferred to the Supreme People's Procuracy to propose prosecution for the crime ofAbuse of trust to appropriate property.
Investigation results determined that Luat's mother was close to Ms. Kien, a wealthy woman living in District 11. Knowing that she had a lot of savings, Luat asked her to transfer the money to the bank he was in charge of to help increase sales. Ms. Kien agreed to deposit hundreds of billions of dong from July 2010 to September 2011.
Due to the large amount of deposits made by Ms. Kien, since October 2011, the bank has agreed to allow Luat to conduct transactions at this VIP customer's home. Trusting Luat, Ms. Kien often signed documents and forms without any content so that Luat could conduct transactions to withdraw interest from her savings.
Once trust was established, Luat asked to borrow money from the female tycoon to pay off bank debts, do business... and committed to paying higher interest rates than savings. Luat borrowed from Ms. Kien 24 times, totaling more than 239 billion VND and 8,687,000 USD to buy many assets, pay off debts to others and for personal expenses.
During the loan process, Luat paid Ms. Kien 35 billion VND in principal. By the end of 2012, Luat still owed Ms. Kien more than 204 billion VND and 8,687,000 USD (nearly 181 billion VND).
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| Luat in court in June 2019. Photo: Hai Duyen. |
In addition, from 2006 to 2014, Luat also borrowed money from 12 other people, a total of 162 billion VND and 10,000 USD for business purposes.
Luat used nearly 155 billion VND borrowed from Ms. Kien and these people to buy 21 assets, including many real estates in the provinces and cars, and then had relatives register them. Because the loan capital was "stuck" in real estate, he later lost the ability to repay the debt.
In 2014, Ms. Kien kept asking for debt but Luat had no money to pay. Taking advantage of the fact that Ms. Kien had previously signed documents, Luat forged many receipts showing that he had paid off all of her debt.
He also forged a receipt showing that he had lent Ms. Kien 82 billion VND and nearly 3,900 taels of SJC gold, then sent a text message to "collect the debt". In August 2014, Luat filed a complaint against Ms. Kien for appropriating his money and gold and filed a lawsuit. However, when Ms. Kien filed a complaint against Luat for his fraudulent behavior, he withdrew the lawsuit.
Working with the investigation agency, Luat admitted that the signatures on the 9 papers showing that he had paid the debt to Ms. Kien were fake.
During the investigation, 10 out of 21 properties that Luat bought with criminal proceeds were recovered, seized and offset for Ms. Kien to remedy the consequences of the case.
In June 2019, Luat was sentenced by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court at first instance.20 years in prisonThe court ordered him to compensate all damages to Ms. Kien and seized the assets purchased with her loan to enforce the judgment. If a dispute arises, it will be filed as another civil case.
Ms. Kien then appealed, asking the appellate court to overturn the verdict, clarify the supporting role of some relatives in Luat's family. At the same time, recover the remaining 11 assets to compensate her for the damage.
The High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City held an appeal hearing in November 2019, accepted Ms. Kien's appeal, annulled the first instance judgment, and returned the case file for re-investigation and retrial.
The Ministry of Public Security later maintained its stance of only prosecuting Luat, saying that there was no basis for criminal proceedings against his wife and relatives because they did not know that Luat had falsified documents to avoid Ms. Kien's debt. They were named on some assets because Luat asked them to, and did not know the source of the money he used to buy them.
The High Court requested the confiscation of 11 assets as "evidence" in the case. The investigation agency said that Luat had sold these assets to others. They were given legal certificates because they did not know the origin of the proceeds of crime. Furthermore, Luat did not remember using Ms. Kien's money or someone else's to buy these assets, so the investigation agency did not have a basis for seizure.
The Ministry of Public Security has sent an official dispatch to the provincial authorities requesting consideration of temporarily suspending transactions and changes related to these assets, pending the decision of the competent authority. The investigation agency also requested the People's Procuracy and the court to apply measures and regulations to resolve Ms. Kien's civil rights in the criminal case.
During the investigation, Luat stated that he paid monthly interest to Ms. Kien totaling more than 204 billion VND and 325,000 USD, so the investigation agency proposed to consider his criminal responsibility during the trial.
However, the female tycoon said that Luat only paid her nearly 115 billion VND and 325,000 USD in interest.