Vu 'Nhom' continues to be investigated for his involvement in DAB's $13 million

At 2:00 p.m. on June 7, Phan Van Anh Vu (aka Vu "Nhom", Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bac Nam 79 Construction Joint Stock Company), Mr. Tran Phuong Binh (59 years old, former General Director, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dong A Bank - DAB) and accomplices were brought to the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City.

After nearly two weeks of trial and deliberation, the appellate court will issue a verdict on Vu "Nhom's" appeal for re-consideration of Mr. Binh's compensation and on the other defendants' request for a reduction in their sentences.

With a pensive look on his face as he was led into the courtroom, Vu clasped his hands and bowed to his relatives, then spoke to his lawyer. Several other lawyers also took the opportunity to quickly exchange views with their clients.

In the first hour of the session, presiding judge Nguyen Huu Ba summarized the content of the case, the views of the prosecution and defense.

According to the People's Court, in 2014, in need of money for liquidity, Mr. Binh proposed increasing the charter capital from 5,000 to 6,000 billion VND. Binh discussed with Vu selling 60 million DAB shares to Bac Nam Company for 600 billion VND to become a major shareholder controlling DAB. Vu mortgaged 220 land lots in Da Nang to the bank but was only approved for 400 billion VND, still short of 200 billion VND, so Mr. Binh directed his subordinates to carry out procedures to illegally collect from Vu.

DAB then failed to increase its charter capital, so on April 8, 2014, Mr. Binh directed the transfer to Bac Nam 79 Company the principal of 600 billion VND (including the 200 billion previously illegally collected from Vu) and more than 9.5 billion VND in interest. During the trial, Vu said he did not commit a crime, the 200 billion VND was a personal loan from Mr. Binh and he did not know it was the bank's money.

Defendant Binh admitted that he had actively directed Nguyen Duc Vinh to freeze the DAB fund of VND200 billion to transfer to Vu without letting Vu know. However, during the investigation and trial, Mr. Binh confirmed that he had discussed with Vu about buying DAB shares and directed his subordinates to carry out procedures to collect the money. In fact, Vu did not have the cash and had signed two fake money deposit slips.

"Vu's act of signing falsely, although not specifically discussed, but helped Binh withdraw money from DAB, causing damage to the bank, so there is a basis to determine that the defendant is an accomplice of Binh in the crime.Abuse of power and position to appropriate property. The court of first instance sentenced the defendant to 17 years in prison, which was not unjust and there was no basis for mitigating the sentence.The appeal judgment stated the reason for rejecting Vu "Nhom"'s appeal.

The People's Court upheld the original verdict, sentencing Vu to 17 years in prison for the crime.Abuse of power and position to appropriate propertyCombined with the 8-year prison sentence previously announced by the Hanoi High People's Court (which has come into effect), the defendant must receive 25 years in prison.

ForTran Phuong Binh, The panel of judges held that the defendant was the mastermind who proposed and directed Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen (former Deputy Director of DAB) and her subordinates to commit many illegal acts, causing a loss of nearly VND 3,600 billion to DAB. Of which, Binh appropriated and used more than VND 2,000 billion for his own personal use, and directed his subordinates to spend VND 1,560 billion against the principles.

Mr. Binh appealed to take full civil responsibility on behalf of his subordinate defendants. However, these defendants caused damage to DAB and must be responsible for remedying the damage, with defendant Binh taking primary responsibility. The defendants’ actions caused particularly serious consequences and therefore required severe sentences. However, the court also considered the role, circumstances and mitigating circumstances of each defendant.

Since then, the court has upheld the life sentence for Tran Phuong Binh for two crimes.Intentionally violating state regulations on economic management causing serious consequences; Abusing trust to appropriate property.

Formerly Mr. Binh's deputy, the defendantNguyen Thi Kim Xuyenhad an active supporting role leading to a loss of VND 1,574 billion and embezzlement of VND 40 billion of ADB. The crime was particularly serious, so the sentence was not reduced, and the sentence of 30 years in prison for both crimes remained.

Regarding the defendants Nguyen Thi Ai Lan, Trang Tai Tam, Nguyen Ho Bao Quoc, Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa (former employees of DAB), the panel of judges determined that they were salaried employees, and were intentional in their actions but unintentional in their consequences. The defendants had good personal records and confessed honestly, so the court reduced Lan's sentence from 9 years to 7 years in prison; Quoc, Hoa, and Tam's sentences were reduced from prison to 2 years and 6 months of suspended imprisonment. The panel of judges upheld the original sentence for the remaining defendants.

The panel also recommended that the investigation agencycontinue to clarify signs of crime in Vu "Nhom" receiving 13.4 million USD from Mr. Binh; issues related to Vo Thi Kim Anh (Chief Accountant of DAB Headquarters); Tran Huy Nam (former Director of DAB Gia Dinh Branch)...; clarify the responsibilities of individuals from the State Bank (SBV), the SBV Inspectorate, Ho Chi Minh City Branch, Ernst and Young VN Auditing Company Limited in auditing and checking funds but did not detect Mr. Binh's violations causing serious consequences.

The trial ended, Vu "Nhom" turned around to give instructions to his relatives before getting in the car to return to prison.

According to the first instance verdict, during the 10 years of running DAB, Mr. Binh and his accomplices committed a series of violations causing losses of more than 3,600 billion VND. The former General Director was accused of appropriating more than 2,000 billion VND, of which he transferred more than 200 billion VND to Vu through signing fake share purchase and sale documents; buying 13.4 million USD but Vu has not returned it to DAB. During the investigation and first instance trial, Phan Van Anh Vu "recovered" 203 billion VND.

The remaining loss of more than 1,500 billion VND was due to Mr. Binh directing his subordinates to disburse funds against the principles. Specifically: 470 billion VND in interest payments outside of capital mobilization, 385 billion VND in foreign exchange trading, more than 610 taels of gold in accounts, 53 billion VND in the fraudulent settlement of a loan of 1,900 taels of gold for defendant Nguyen Hong Anh (former officer of Ho Chi Minh City Police).

Vu pleaded his innocence, claiming that he did not know that the money belonged to DAB but borrowed it personally from Mr. Binh, so he did not commit any crime. At this appeal hearing, the former Chairman of Bac Nam Company maintained his stance, asking the panel of judges to be cautious when making a decision, to consider the real evidence, and to judge him according to the law.

Mr. Binh appealed to accept full responsibility for compensating his subordinates because they did not benefit. He also asked the appellate court to reconsider the amount of compensation and interest. The remaining defendants asked for a reduction in their sentences.