Former State Bank deputy governor tried for irresponsibility

HCM City (VNA) – The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City opened the first instance trial on June 25 for former deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Dang Thanh Binh on the charge of lack of responsibility causing serious consequences at the Vietnam Construction Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VNCB).

Other defendants tried for the same charge include Ha Tan Phuoc (former head of the supervision group and deputy director of the SBV branch in Long An province), Pham The Tuan (former deputy head of the supervision group), Le Van Thanh (former general inspector of the SBV branch in Long An) and Ngo Van Thanh (ex-member of the supervision group).

The jury summoned nearly 20 people with related rights and obligations at the court, including Pham Cong Danh (former chairman of the Board of Directors of VNCB) and Phan Thanh Mai (former general director of VNCB), along with representatives from the SBV and the SBV branch in Long An.

According to the indictment, Ha Tan Phuoc, Le Van Thanh, Pham The Tuan and Ngo Van Thanh, as members of the SBV supervision group at VNCB, were assigned to supervise the operation of VNCB, including transactions worth 5 billion VND or more.

However, they failed to perform their missions, allowing Pham Cong Danh and his accomplices to withdraw money from the bank, causing serious consequences.

Thus, Ha Tan Phuoc and Pham The Tuan must bear joint responsibility for the loss of more than 3.4 trillion VND (148.7 million USD), while Le Van Thanh and Ngo Van Thanh have joint responsibility for economic loss of over 6.5 trillion VND (284.3 million USD) and 10 trillion VND (437.5 million USD) respectively, the indictment said.

Meanwhile, as the person in charge of the SBV’s supervision agency, the legal department and tasked with assisting the SBV Governor in directing the reshuffle of six banks with poor performance, Dang Thanh Binh had failed to perform his duties and implement restructuring plan of Dai Tin (Trust Bank) – the predecessor of the VNCB. 

Binh allowed Danh and his accomplices to join the management work and hold dominant shares at the bank, which enabled them to cause serious economic losses of over 15 trillion VND (656.2 million USD) to the bank, according to the indictment.

The trial will run until June 29.-VNA