Sentencing of defendant Truong My Lan and her accomplices.
After nearly a month of trial and lengthy deliberations, the Ho Chi Minh City High Court today announced its verdict against defendant Truong My Lan and 47 co-defendants.
During the previous questioning, defendant Truong My Lan did not plead innocent, only asking the panel of judges to consider mitigating circumstances so that she could avoid the death penalty.
Expressing her desire to mitigate the consequences of the case, in addition to the assets currently under seizure and freezing, Ms. Lan also contributed 658 property codes that are not currently mortgaged anywhere to resolve the issue.
Hoping that the court would consider mitigating the sentences for the defendants, the relatives of defendants Truong My Lan, Chu Lap Co, and Truong Hue Van have deposited over 95 billion VND to compensate for the damages into the enforcement agency's account at the State Treasury.
Although she did not plead innocent, only requesting a reduced sentence, when answering the lawyer, defendant Truong My Lan asked the panel of judges to reconsider the charge.Embezzlement of assets"Embezzlement means taking other people's money and putting it in your own pocket, but the defendant's assets were all at SCB," Ms. Lan explained.
According to Ms. Lan, in 2012, when SCB was facing difficulties, she mortgaged the 5-star Windsor Hotel to the State Bank of Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City branch, borrowing 15,000 billion VND to transfer to SCB. However, because the State Bank of Vietnam only provided short-term loans, she later had to mortgage other assets, including Times Square building and the Fabric Market, to restructure SCB.
Regarding asset valuation, Ms. Lan claims that Hoang Quan Valuation Company inaccurately valued 1,121 of her assets, valuing them at only 295,000 billion VND, which is only 60% of their actual value.
The defendants, who were former leaders and employees at SCB Bank, also asked the court to consider mitigating their sentences so they could return to their families sooner.
Responding to questions about Ms. Lan's role at SCB, defendant Truong Khanh Hoang (former acting General Director of SCB) testified that when he first started working there, defendant Dinh Van Thanh (former Chairman of the Board of Directors) told him that Ms. Lan was the "patron" of SCB. Therefore, defendant Hoang thought Ms. Lan had a significant influence on the bank.
Defendant Nguyen Van Thanh Hai (former Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCB) stated that at the time of signing the documents, he was unaware of his wrongdoing, and only realized during the first-instance trial that all the approved submissions did not accurately reflect reality.
Devastated when the prosecutor recommended upholding the death sentence.
In the indictment, the prosecutor argued that the defendant Lan's criminal acts were exceptionally serious, committing three offenses simultaneously that caused negative public opinion.
The first-instance court's sentencing of the defendant to death for "Embezzlement of assets," 20 years in prison for "Bribery," and 20 years in prison for "Violating regulations on lending in the operation of credit institutions," resulting in a combined sentence of death, is correct, just, and not unjust.
However, at the appeal hearing, the defendant made a sincere confession and proposed including 658 unmortgaged and unseized assets as compensation for damages, which constitutes a new mitigating circumstance. Therefore, the representative of the Procuratorate requested the Panel of Judges to partially accept the defendant Lan's appeal regarding the charge of "Violating regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions".
Accordingly, the Procuratorate proposed a sentence of 14-16 years imprisonment for this crime. The appeal for leniency for the crimes of "Embezzlement" and "Bribery" was rejected. The combined sentence proposed by the Procuratorate for the defendant Truong My Lan is the death penalty.
Facing a proposed death sentence, Ms. Lan appeared distraught and said, "I respectfully request the Court and the Prosecutor's Office to carefully consider my case. My only wish is to be able to repay my debt to the State Bank."
Claiming that this case was "horrific," having shattered many dreams and hopes of herself and the other defendants, Ms. Lan once again requested the court to reconsider the charge of "Embezzlement of Assets" and reduce her sentence.
"I'm almost 70 years old this year, and if the court reduces the sentence to 20 years in prison, I don't know if I'll even live to see that day," Ms. Lan expressed.
Given the opportunity to speak their final words before the court deliberated, both defendants Truong Hue Van and Chu Lap Co did not ask for leniency for themselves, but mainly praised Ms. Lan's charitable work and asked the panel of judges to consider mitigating circumstances for her.
