Ha Van Tham at the court (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) –The Hanoi People’s Court on April 28 sentenced formerChairman of the Board of Directors of the Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank(OceanBank) Ha Van Tham to 10 years in prison for “breachingaccounting regulations and causing serious consequences”.
At an earlier trial of another court case, Tham got a life imprisonment. All in all, he will have to spend the rest of his life in jail.
Tham also has to compensate 29 billion VND (1.26 million USD) for OceanBank.
FormerDirector of the bank’s division for accounting anddomestic transactions Vu Thi Thuy Duong was sentenced to 20 months, and42 months in another court.
According to the indictment from the SupremePeople’s Procuracy, from 2010 to 2014, at the instruction of Tham, OceanBankpaid more than 1,576 billion VND (67.2 million USD at the current exchangerate) in extra interest rates, which were not stated in contracts, to customersdepositing money at the bank.
To cover the payments, Tham instructed former Deputy General Director of OceanBank Le Thi Thu Thuy to coordinate with other sectionsto produce fake contracts with partners inside and outside of the Ocean Group,resulting in losses of more than 106 billion VND (4.5 million USD) forOceanBank.
The Procuracy said that in this case, as the Chairman of the Board of Directors,Tham ordered leaders of OceanBank and its partners at the Ocean Group toapprove and sign 44 fake contracts, thus causing losses for the bank./.
