Thẩm vấn Trương Mỹ Lan and Nguyễn Cao Trí: Insights from the Million Prosperity Case

In the ongoing trial of the Million Prosperity (Vạn Thịnh Phát) case, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court has already interrogated 77 out of 86 defendants present during the trial. Only two defendants remain to be questioned: Trương Mỹ Lan (born in 1956) and Nguyễn Cao Trí (born in 1970; Chairman of Capella Company’s Board of Directors).

Today, Judge Phạm Lương Toản, the presiding judge of the court, will question these defendants before other members of the Tribunal, the Prosecutor’s Office, and the defense lawyers take their turn.

The 77 defendants who have already been interrogated include former leaders and employees of SCB Bank during various periods, former Government Inspectorate officials, former State Audit officials, as well as former leaders and employees of companies within the Million Prosperity ecosystem.

All these defendants have acknowledged their active involvement in aiding Trương Mỹ Lan in embezzling over 304,000 trillion Vietnamese dong from SCB Bank, as stated in the indictment.

For instance, some former leaders of SCB Bank revealed that they had to submit resignation letters multiple times over an extended period before their requests were accepted.

Nguyễn Huỳnh Lan Chi, the former head of the SCB Bank’s reconsideration department, stated that while monitoring the increasing debts of the bank, she realized the need to re-evaluate loan applications. However, her requests for reconsideration were denied, leading her to resign twice since 2017. In February 2018, she firmly refused to sign any documents. Eventually, in August 2018, her resignation was accepted.

Similarly, Võ Triệu Lân, the former director of SCB Bank’s Chợ Lớn branch, declared that he and his team made efforts to participate in the bank’s restructuring. However, upon observing that the loan documents he signed were actually used to facilitate unauthorized borrowing, he refused to sign any more papers starting from 2015. Nonetheless, he was only relieved of his duties in October 2023.

According to the authorities’ conclusions, during the period from July 17, 2013, to October 29, 2015, Lân signed 35 reconsideration petitions, approving 18 loans totaling 12,700 trillion Vietnamese dong for individual clients of the Million Prosperity Group at SCB Bank.

Some individuals who received rewards from Trương Mỹ Lan, ranging from billions to over 20 billion Vietnamese dong, stated that they believed they were rewarded for their good work.

Moving on to Nguyễn Cao Trí, the trial judge previously accepted Trí’s and his lawyer’s request for him to be absent from unrelated court sessions. As per the Supreme People’s Procuracy’s allegations, Nguyễn Cao Trí agreed to and received over 1,000 trillion Vietnamese dong from Trương Mỹ Lan for three purposes: transferring 31.22% of the capital of the Industrial Rubber Joint Stock Company owned by Trí, transferring the capital of Saigon Đại Ninh Joint Stock Company, and investing in a project in Hải Hà District, Quảng Ninh Province.

Trương Mỹ Lan requested Hồ Quốc Minh to put his name on these shares worth over 1,000 trillion Vietnamese dong. When Lan was arrested and temporarily detained on October 7, 2022, on charges of “fraudulently misappropriating assets,” Nguyễn Cao Trí instructed Bùi Anh Tuấn to draft the liquidation documents for the investment trust contracts involving the transfer of 31.22% equity in Cao su Công nghiệp Joint Stock Company and the adjustment and liquidation of contracts for the transfer of 10% equity in Văn Lang Company.

On October 23, 2022, Nguyễn Cao Trí met Hồ Quốc Minh at a café in Tân Sơn Nhất Airport, requesting Minh to sign the liquidation documents to appropriate the 1,000 trillion Vietnamese dong. During the investigation process from December 26, 2022, to January 15, 2023, Nguyễn Cao Trí denied having received the 1,000 trillion Vietnamese dong from Trương Mỹ Lan. Trí claimed that the encounter with Hồ Quốc Minh was accidental and that no documents or paperwork were exchanged.

Despite the findings of the Criminal Science Institute, Ministry of Public Security, which identified Trí’s handwriting in the documents he used to monitor and confirm the amount he received from Trương Mỹ Lan, Trí still refused to admit to receiving any money from her.

Trí argued that Lan had fabricated allegations and slandered his reputation. However, during the prosecution process, Trí admitted his criminal behavior and confessed his crimes. Prior to the trial, Trí and his family had already paid over 657 trillion Vietnamese dong to mitigate the consequences of the case.

Update: On March 7, the Court received a petition from Trương Mỹ Lan and her husband, Chu Lập Cơ, regarding authorizing their daughter Chu Duyệt Phấn and grandson to recover external debts to mitigate the consequences of the case. Considering the Court’s stance to encourage defendants to pay damages, their request was accepted. Furthermore, the Court announced its willingness to assist in the debt recovery process if the defendants provide a complete list of debtors’ names and addresses.

This article was brought to you by Business Today, the leading source of business news and insights in the finance and economics field.