VIP customers were defrauded of over 385 billion VND by bank officials.
Huynh Tan Luat, a bank employee, borrowed hundreds of billions of dong from a wealthy businesswoman and then forged documents to falsely accuse her of borrowing money from him and defaulting on the debt.
The actions of Luat (48 years old, former head of a branch of a commercial bank) were mentioned by the Ministry of Public Security in its investigation conclusion, which was forwarded to the Supreme People's Procuratorate for prosecution.Abuse of trust to misappropriate property.
The investigation revealed that Luat's mother was close friends with Ms. Kien, a wealthy businesswoman residing in District 11. Knowing that Ms. Kien had a large amount of money in savings, Luat asked her to transfer it to the bank she managed to help increase sales. Ms. Kien agreed to deposit hundreds of billions of dong from July 2010 to September 2011.
Due to Ms. Kien's large deposit amount, from October 2011, the bank agreed to allow Luat to conduct transactions at this VIP customer's home. Trusting Luat, Ms. Kien often signed blank documents and forms so that Luat could withdraw the interest from her savings accounts on her behalf.
Once he gained her trust, Luat proposed borrowing money from the wealthy businesswoman to repay bank loans, for business purposes, etc., promising to pay higher interest rates than savings accounts. Luat borrowed from Ms. Kien 24 times, totaling over 239 billion VND and 8,687,000 USD, to purchase various assets, pay off debts to others, and for personal expenses.
During the loan process, Luat repaid Ms. Kien 35 billion VND in principal. By the end of 2012, Luat still owed Ms. Kien over 204 billion VND and 8,687,000 USD (nearly 181 billion VND).
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| The lawyer during his court appearance in June 2019. Photo: Hai Duyen. |
In addition, from 2006 to 2014, Luat also borrowed money from 12 other people, totaling 162 billion VND and 10,000 USD for business purposes.
Luật used nearly 155 billion VND borrowed from Ms. Kiên and others to purchase 21 properties, including numerous real estate properties in various provinces and cars, then had relatives register them under their names. Because the borrowed capital was "tied up" in real estate, he subsequently became unable to repay the debt.
In 2014, Ms. Kien repeatedly demanded repayment, but Luat no longer had the money to pay. Taking advantage of the fact that Ms. Kien had previously signed documents, Luat forged numerous receipts claiming that he had paid off all his debts to her.
He also forged receipts showing that he had lent Ms. Kien 82 billion VND, nearly 3,900 SJC gold bars, and then sent messages demanding repayment. In August 2014, Luat filed a complaint accusing Ms. Kien of misappropriating his money and gold and sued her in court. However, when Ms. Kien filed a complaint against Luat for fraudulent behavior, he withdrew the lawsuit.
Working with the investigating agency, Luat admitted that the signatures on the nine papers stating that he had repaid the debt to Ms. Kien were forged.
During the investigation, 10 out of the 21 properties that Luat purchased with money obtained through criminal activity were recovered, seized, and offset against Ms. Kien to mitigate the consequences of the case.
In June 2019, Luật was sentenced to death by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court in the first instance trial.20 years in prisonThe court ordered him to compensate Ms. Kien for all damages and seized the assets purchased with money borrowed from her to enforce the judgment. If a dispute arises, it will be filed as a separate civil case.
Ms. Kien subsequently appealed, requesting the appellate court to overturn the verdict, clarify the role of some of Luat's family members in assisting the crime, and recover the remaining 11 assets to compensate for her damages.
In November 2019, the Ho Chi Minh City High Court of Appeal accepted Ms. Kien's appeal, overturned the first-instance judgment, and returned the case file for further investigation and retrial.
The Ministry of Public Security subsequently maintained its stance of only prosecuting Luat, arguing that there was no basis for criminally prosecuting his wife and relatives because they were unaware that Luat had forged documents to evade Ms. Kien's debt. They claimed that Luat had asked them to register some of the properties in his name, and they were unaware of the source of the money he used to purchase them.
Regarding the 11 assets that the High Court recommended for recovery on the grounds that they "are evidence" in the case, the investigating agency believes that Luat had sold these assets to others. These individuals were granted legal certificates because they were unaware that the assets originated from criminal proceeds. Furthermore, Luat does not remember whether he used money from Ms. Kien or others to purchase these assets, so the investigating agency has no basis to seize them.
The Ministry of Public Security has sent a document to relevant agencies in the provinces requesting them to consider temporarily suspending transactions and changes related to these assets, pending a decision from the competent authority. The investigating agency also requested the Procuratorate and the court to apply measures and regulations to resolve Ms. Kien's civil rights in the criminal case.
During the investigation, Luat confessed to paying monthly interest to Ms. Kien totaling over 204 billion VND and 325,000 USD, so the investigating agency recommended considering his criminal liability during the trial.
However, the businesswoman claims that the law only paid her nearly 115 billion VND and 325,000 USD in interest.