Truoc, 41, is due to stand trial in HCMC on March 5 along with 85 others, accused of embezzlement.
In April 2021, Lan proposed selling a 2.5 trillion dong real estate project in District 2 (now part of Thu Duc City) to Truoc’s company. Established in 2002, his company Tuong Viet provides generator systems, elevators, wooden furniture and is active in the real estate market.
Truoc has known Lan since the end of 2020.
However, Truoc did not need to pay out of his own pocket and was instead asked to register a VND3.5 trillion loan with lender Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and use this loan to pay for the project. 7,000 square meter apartments.
SCB, which merged three lenders through Lan, approved the loan and disbursed it to two Tuong Viet subsidiaries.
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Duong Tan Truoc (right) seen at a corporate event in early 2022. Photo courtesy of Tuong Viet |
The money was then transferred between many different accounts, but all were under Lan’s control.
As of October 2022 (when the Ministry of Public Security opened an investigation into Lan and SCB), the two subsidiaries still owed SCB 3.5 trillion dong in debt and 589 billion dong in interest.
Truoc also helped Lan acquire permits for two real estate projects, including Mui Den Do Residence and Park, with a total registered capital of $6 billion.
For his work, Truoc received a bonus of VND1.5 trillion which was disbursed in the form of SCB loans to TuongViet under Lan’s command.
Police said that after deducting the value of the collateral, Truoc’s companies helped Lan steal VND4.75 billion and VND605 billion in interest from SCB.
Lan, chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat, was accused of corruption, violating banking regulations and embezzlement.
From 2012 to 2022, Lan’s entourage stole VND304 trillion from SCB in the form of loans. With interest, the total loss caused by Lan and his accomplice to SCB amounts to more than 415 trillion VND.
Eighty-five other people were charged with similar crimes, as well as “abuse of power and position in the performance of official duties” and “irresponsibility leading to serious consequences.”
Among the accused are 45 former SCB executives, 15 former officers of the State Bank of Vietnam, three officers of the Government Inspectorate and a former officer of the National Audit Office.
