Pham Cong Danh (C), ex-Chairman of the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB) Board of Directors (Source: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – The Procuracy of HoChi Minh City on January 9 announced an indictment against Pham Cong Danh,ex-Chairman of the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB) Board of Directors, and hisaccomplices who were charged with “deliberately violating State regulations oneconomic management causing severe consequences” at VNCB.
This is the second day of the second-phase trialof the case.
According to the indictment, in 2013 and 2014,Pham Cong Danh, who is also ex-Chairman of the member council of Thien ThanhGroup, needed money but was unable to directly borrow from VNCB. He orderedexecutives and staff of VNCB and Thien Thanh Group to compile false documentsin the names of 29 companies which were established in Danh’s name or others,in order to take loans from Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank(Sacombank), Tien Phong (TPBank) and Bank for Investment and Development ofVietnam (BIDV).
Danh used the borrowed money for personalpurposes and failed to pay off the sum.
To guarantee these loans, Danh directed thefalsification of a dossier to borrow 6.63 trillion VND (291 million USD) fromVNCB and sent the money to the three abovementioned banks, which latercollected debts of his companies from this sum of money.
He also directed granting guarantees of hiscompanies to borrow money without collateral. He also organised the issuance,announcement and sale of bonds of Thien Thanh Group and the Trung Dung single-memberlimited liability company when these firms hadn’t had audited financial reportsand written approval from competent agencies.
Danh also ordered the use of VNCB’s deposits toguarantee his companies’ loans from banks. However, debts of the guaranteedcompanies weren’t recorded and the firms weren’t asked to repay the depositswithin the days. VNCB had to withdraw deposits ahead of schedule to pay offdebts on behalf of Danh’s companies.
Those violations committed by Danh and hisaccessories caused losses of more than 6.1 trillion VND (267.8 million USD) toVNCB, leading to particularly serious consequences. Including the case’s firstphase, Pham Cong Danh and his accomplices caused total losses of more than 15trillion VND (658.5 million USD) to VNCB, according to the indictment.
Tram Be, former Vice Chairman of Sacombank, wasalso prosecuted in the second phase of the case. He was charged with discussingand agreeing with Phan Huy Khang, former Director General of Sacombank, to lend1.8 trillion VND (79 million USD) to Pham Cong Danh through Danh’s companies.
Pham Cong Danh, Tram Be and Phan Huy Khangdiscussed and agreed on the sum of loans under the condition that collateral bereal estate or deposit money.
On April 19, 2013, Pham Cong Danh, Phan ThanhMai (former Director General of VNCB), Mai Huu Khuong (former member of VNCBBoard of Directors), and Nguyen Quoc Vien (former head of VNCB’s control board)met Phan Huy Khang. Khang assigned Phan Dinh Tue, former Deputy DirectorGeneral of Sacombank, to process the loan. Lending dossiers were falsified andthe borrowing companies did not have business activities or were examined afterthey were lent.
On April 25, 2013, Tram Be signed off proposalssubmitted by the Sacombank branches of Hung Dao and District 8. The next day,money began to be disbursed for six companies of Danh. Danh used to money topay off his companies’ debts and transferred the remaining 166 billion VND(7.29 million USD) to his personal account.
On April 26, 2014, when the loan term expired,since the six companies failed to pay off debts, Sacombank collected theoriginal debt and loan interest from VNCB’s deposit at Sacombank. As a result,VNCB suffered losses of over 1.8 trillion VND (79 million USD).
The court is scheduled to question defendants onJanuary 10.-VNA
VNA
