Information from the indictment shows that Ms. Truong My Lan used more than 8,000 billion VND of the proceeds of crime for “personal and other expenses”.
Wife spends more than 8000 billion VND on “personal expenses”
The Supreme People’s Procuracy has just completed the indictment to prosecute the defendant Truong My Lan (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group) and 33 accomplices for 3 groups of crimes of “fraudulent appropriation of property”, “money laundering”, and “illegal transportation of currency across the border”.
Among them, Lan is considered to have played the highest role, being prosecuted for all 3 crimes. The prosecutor determined that she laundered 445,747 billion VND; illegally transported 4.5 billion USD across the border; and defrauded 30,081 billion VND through the issuance of more than 308 million fake shares.
Specifically, according to the indictment, from January 1, 2018 to October 7, 2022, Truong My Lan and her accomplices appropriated VND 445,748,114,070,480 obtained from the crime of embezzlement of property (VND 415,666,604,370,480) and fraud to appropriate property (VND 30,081,509,700,000). Truong My Lan directed the defendants Nguyen Phuong Hong, Truong Khanh Hoang, Tran Thi My Dung to coordinate with Nguyen Ngoc Duong, Nguyen Phuong Anh, Trinh Quang Cong to come up with a plan to withdraw and transfer money out of the SCB Bank system to conceal the origin of the money from the crime, legalizing the entire amount of VND 445,748,114,070,480 for use for purposes as directed by Truong My Lan.
Cash withdrawals are mainly carried out at SCB Bank Saigon Branch according to the following process: Truong My Lan directs through Nguyen Phuong Hong, then Nguyen Phuong Hong coordinates with Truong Khanh Hoang and Tran Thi My Dung to request Nguyen Phuong Anh to make a list of legal entities and individuals receiving and withdrawing money, and at the same time directs Thai Thi Thanh Thao, Director of Wholesale Customer Service Department, SCB Bank Saigon Branch to coordinate with Nguyen Phuong Anh to implement.
Nguyen Phuong Anh directed the accounting staff assigned to manage the “ghost” companies in the group to prepare documents (UNC, withdrawal papers…) and transfer to Thai Thi Thanh Thao information about the legal entities receiving money and individuals withdrawing money to prepare documents to complete the cash withdrawal procedure, then make an appointment for the hired individuals to come to SCB Bank to sign the withdrawal documents.
After completing the withdrawal procedures, Thai Thi Thanh Thao informed Tran Thi Thuy Ai, the Cash Controller of SCB Bank Saigon Branch to withdraw cash from the fund and hand it over to Bui Van Dung (Truong My Lan’s driver) at Basement B1, SCB Bank Saigon Branch headquarters so that Dung could transport the money to Sherwood Building at 127 Pateur, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City and hand it over to Tran Thi Hoang Uyen (Truong My Lan’s secretary).
Then, Uyen continued to deliver to individuals under the direction of Truong My Lan; or Dung transported the money to Van Thinh Phat Group (at address 193-203 Tran Hung Dao, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) and delivered to Tran Xuan Phuong (Assistant to Ngo Thanh Nha); in some cases, Dung directly transferred money to individuals under the direction of Truong My Lan.
When not in immediate need of cash, Truong My Lan directed Nguyen Phuong Hong, Truong Khanh Hoang, Tran Thi My Dung to coordinate with Nguyen Phuong Anh to use legal entities/individuals to open accounts at SCB Bank to receive money, transfer money from criminal sources to (pending account), and when needed, create plans to transfer money between accounts.
Finally, to the account designated for Truong My Lan to use for personal purposes, including: (Withdrawing cash to transfer to individuals: 15,143,820 billion VND; spending on project implementation: 1,898,098 billion VND; paying debts between companies/individuals in Tan Doan Van Thinh Phat borrowing from each other 48,430,091,459,607 VND; (paying to other banks (other than SCB Bank): 7,616,329,600,000 VND; paying for loans at SCB Bank: 183,228,214,587,716 VND; transferring to SCB Cau Giay Bank 356,491,971,677 VND (mainly used to buy USD); (paying principal and interest of issued bond packages: 1,690,747,300,000 VND) VND; (8 remittances abroad VND 32,164,966,648,990 (equivalent to USD 1,365,543,284); personal and other expenses: VND 8,074,698,767,677; the remaining amount was directed by Truong My Lan to be transferred out of the account and used for other purposes.
Husband uses money to “travel” abroad
According to the indictment, defendant Chu Lap Co (Chu Nap Kee Eric), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Times Square Investment Joint Stock Company (Vietnam) – Times Square, husband of Truong My Lan, opened and used 03 payment cards (Visa, Master) at SCB Bank.
Ms. Truong My Lan
During his stay, residence, and travel in Vietnam and when traveling abroad (Hong Kong, China, France, England, Italy, etc.), from January 1, 2018 to October 7, 2022, Chu Lap Co spent VND 225,552,538,966 using the above credit cards, of which: VND 113,299,656,966 originated from fake loans at SCB Bank (VND 81,322,706,966 came from loans that were paid off with other “fake” loans; VND 31,976,950,000 was money for the crime of embezzlement of assets, the loans had not been paid off as of October 17, 2022); 1,394,399,000 VND originated from the crime of “fraudulent appropriation of property” through the issuance and sale of An Dong Company bonds.
During the period from 2018 to October 7, 2022, Chu Lap Co used 33,371,349,000 VND that his wife, Truong My Lan, directed employees to deposit into Chu Lap Co’s Visa and Master cards, which was money that Truong My Lan had obtained through crime; Chu Lap Co confessed that he knew his wife, Truong My Lan, directed employees to deposit money into the card.
Based on evidence and investigation documents, there is sufficient basis to determine that Chu Lap Co and Truong My Lan legally used the amount of 33,371,349,000 VND.