The Supreme People’s Procuracy has prosecuted two more former officials at the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) for their involvements in a serious financial case uncovered at the bank in 2012.

>> Tycoon, ex minister indicted in high-profile case>> Arrested banking tycoon gets more charge Accordingly, Pham Trung Cang, 60, a former deputy chairman of ACB, and Huynh Quang Tuan, 56, a former member of the board, have been charged with “intentionally acting against the State’s economic management regulations and causing serious consequences.” They are the two latest defendants involved in the scandal to be tried. In late December, the Supreme People’s Procuracy prosecuted seven other offenders, including former minister of planning and investment Tran Xuan Gia and a well-connected banker and powerful tycoon, Nguyen Duc Kien.Kien has been facing four charges, including illegal trading, swindling to appropriate assets, intentionally acting against the State’s economic management regulations and causing serious consequences, and tax evasion. The illegal trading committed by Kien in the case amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. On December 12, 2013, the prosecutor’s office issued an indictment for the seven defendants and referred the case file to the Hanoi People’s Court for trial. On January 1, 2014, the court, after consideration, returned the file to the local prosecutor’s office for consideration of alleged wrongdoings by Cang and Tuan. On January 27, 2014, the Supreme People’s Procuracy issued a new indictment for the case, in which Cang and Tuan are included as indictees.

Cang left Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on December 24, 2013 to go to the US and he returned to Vietnam on January 25, 2014.Multiple offenses According to investigators, Tuan signed on the minutes of the meeting of ACB’s Management Board on June 7, 2013, in which the board entrusted 19 employees of the bank to make deposits at the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) to enjoy interest rates of 17.8-27 percent.

This act violated Article 106 of the Law on Credit Institutions, investigators said.

The total amount of the deposits, VND718 billion (US$33.87 million), was later appropriated by Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, 36, the former deputy head of the Risk Management Department of Vietinbank, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on January 27, 2014 for swindling nearly VND4,000 billion ($188.7 million) from banks, companies, and individuals.

Similarly, Cang was found to have signed on the minutes of the meeting of ACB’s Management Board on March 22, 2010 in which the board entrusted a number of ACB staff and four ACB subsidiaries to use ACB deposits to make deposits in USD ($81 million, interest rates: 3-6 percent per year) and VND (130 trillion dong; interest rates: 8.5-27 percent per year) at 29 banks.

This act violated the Law on Credit Organizations, Circular 02 of Mar 3, 2011 by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) providing regulations on ceiling interest rates, and many other decisions of SBV.

Of these amounts, VND719 billion was deposited at Vietinbank and was later appropriated by Nhu.

Cang was also found to have allowed an ACB subsidiary, ACB Securities Co Ltd (ACBS), to use VND1,577 billion ($75.39 million) owned by ACB to acquire shares at other securities companies.

Cang also authorized Nguyen Duc Kien to direct the share acquisition.

This act violated Article 126 of the Law on Credit Institutions and Decision 27 of April 24, 2007 by the Ministry of Finance.

At the time this act was discovered, ACB suffered a loss of VND688 million from this wrongdoing.

Cang was also found to have committed similar acts, creating a total illegitimate gain of VND256.8 billion for a number of ACB shareholders while directly causing losses totaling VND1,407 billion ($66.37 million) to ACB.