Ha Van Tham, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ocean Bank (Source: laodong.com.vn) Thetrial for the case was first held on February 27. However, on March 8, theHanoi People’s Court sent it back to the nation’s main prosecuting agency, thePeople’s Supreme Procuracy, for further investigation and reframing of charges.
Thejury said the decision to hand back the case after an eight-day hearing wastaken to clarify some of the defendant’s statements and to carry out furtherinvestigation into some aspects of the case.
Duringthe 20-day hearing this time, the jury will summon 727 people to take part inlitigations, making it the record number subpoenaed by the court so far. Theyinclude civil plaintiffs, those who were involved in interests and duties,witnesses, and assessors.
Todate, 50 lawyers have registered to protect legitimate rights and interests ofdefendants.
Thecase involved 51 defendants who are prosecuted for misappropriating assets,breaching loan regulations of credit institutions, abusing positions and powerwhile on duty and intentionally acting against State laws on economicmanagement, causing serious consequences.
Accordingto the court’s verdict, when working as Ocean Bank’s Chairman of the Board ofDirectors, Tham and his accomplices, who are other former leaders and employeesof the bank, made a lot of credit-related violations causing losses for thebank and seriously affecting the State’s monetary policies. Their violationsresulted in losses of nearly 2 trillion VND (88 million USD) for Ocean Bank.
Specifically,while holding the highest position at the bank, Tham directed his subordinatesto approve a loan for former Chairman of the Vietnam Construction Bank’s Boardof Directors Pham Cong Danh without guaranteeing the lending conditions,collateral and proper purposes, thus causing an economic loss of nearly 350billion VND (15.3 million USD) for the bank.
He had directed the bank’s staff to pay interest rates outside of themobilising deposit contracts for customers.
Thebank’s former director general Nguyen Xuan Son was found to coordinate withTham to charge customers additional fees, triggering a loss of nearly 69billion VND (3.02 million USD) for the bank and customers. Meanwhile, itsanother former director general Nguyen Thi Minh Thu instructed the bank’sbranches to pay interest rates outside the mobilising deposit contracts,causing a loss of 1.576 trillion VND (69 million USD).-VNA
VNA
