Vietnam Social Insurance has yet to recover any money from the VND1 trillion in loans it gave to a financial leasing arm of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) as of December 2011, said the Vietnam State Inspectorate (VSI).

The VND1.01 trillion ($48.5 million) loans Vietnam Social Insurance offered to Agribank’s Financial Leasing Company II (ALC II) are totally wrong, said the state agency.

Consequently, by the end of last year, ALC II still owed Vietnam Social Insurance VND787.5 billion in principal and VND264.5 billion in interest that may become unrecoverable, said VSI.

VSI has also recommended that Vietnam Social Insurance figure out measures to recover the amount of the overdue principal and interest at ALC II. The insurance agency has also been asked to clarify personal responsibility for the mistaken lending so that the related individuals can be officially charged.

Agribank takes the lead in non-performing loans (NPLs) with 6.45 percent as of the first half of 2012, said Nguyen Van Binh, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam in a press briefing in late August.

On average, NPLs at state-run credit institutions stand at 3.76 percent, while those in non-state commercial banks are at 4.74 percent. However, the data is one-sided since it is provided by the banks, not the SBV, Binh added.

The State Audit of Vietnam in late July this year found that Debt and Asset Trading Corp’s (DATC) would likely suffer a VND70 billion ($3.36 million) loss for its deposits at ALC II.

Though DATC’s deposits at ALC II were more than two years overdue as of December 31, 2011, the total interest amount gained only VND12.68 billion.

As a result, DATC failed to perform its principal duty of debt trading and long-term investment for corporate restructuring, said the State Audit.

On April 20, 2011, Ho Chi Minh City police filed charges against three Agribank officials for violation of credit regulations and dereliction of duty causing a loss of at least $4.8 million.

Earlier, on April 16, the Ministry of Public Security arrested Vu Quoc Hao, former general director of ALC II, after the State Audit of Vietnam discovered losses of $143.4 million at the company.

It also took in Ton Quang Viet, former deputy head of leasing at ALC II, and Dang Van Hai, chairman and general director of Quang Vinh Construction and Trading Co Ltd. All have been charged with “abusing power while on duty.”

ALC II is not authorized to lend, but Hao gave loans to Hai’s company and a number of other businesses.

The Supreme People’s Procuracy has prosecuted them for causing a loss of more than VND1.8 trillion ($86.1 million) to ALC II.