Former Ocean Bank executives to be tried again on August 28

Hanoi (VNA) – The first-instance hearing for Ha Van Tham, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Ocean Bank), and his accomplices will be reopened on August 28, according to the Hanoi People’s Court.

The trial for the case was first held on February 27. However, on March 8, the Hanoi People’s Court sent it back to the nation’s main prosecuting agency, the People’s Supreme Procuracy, for further investigation and reframing of charges.

The jury said the decision to hand back the case after an eight-day hearing was taken to clarify some of the defendant’s statements and to carry out further investigation into some aspects of the case.

During the 20-day hearing this time, the jury will summon 727 people to take part in litigations, making it the record number subpoenaed by the court so far. They include civil plaintiffs, those who were involved in interests and duties, witnesses, and assessors.

To date, 50 lawyers have registered to protect legitimate rights and interests of defendants.

The case involved 51 defendants who are prosecuted for misappropriating assets, breaching loan regulations of credit institutions, abusing positions and power while on duty and intentionally acting against State laws on economic management, causing serious consequences.

According to the court’s verdict, when working as Ocean Bank’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Tham and his accomplices, who are other former leaders and employees of the bank, made a lot of credit-related violations causing losses for the bank and seriously affecting the State’s monetary policies. Their violations resulted 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 subordinates to approve a loan for former Chairman of the Vietnam Construction Bank’s Board of Directors Pham Cong Danh without guaranteeing the lending conditions, collateral and proper purposes, thus causing an economic loss of nearly 350 billion VND (15.3 million USD) for the bank.

He had directed the bank’s staff to pay interest rates outside of the mobilising deposit contracts for customers.

The bank’s former director general Nguyen Xuan Son was found to coordinate with Tham to charge customers additional fees, triggering a loss of nearly 69 billion VND (3.02 million USD) for the bank and customers. Meanwhile, its another former director general Nguyen Thi Minh Thu instructed the bank’s branches to pay interest rates outside the mobilising deposit contracts, causing a loss of 1.576 trillion VND (69 million USD).-VNA