This morning, after three weeks of trial, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court announced sentences to a 36-year-old woman and her 22 accomplices involved in a striking swindle case in which she appropriated nearly VND4 trillion (US$188.7 million) from three banks, nine companies, and three individuals.

>> 2 more bankers face prosecution in $188 mln swindling case>> Young ex-banker who swindled $188.7 mln faces life>> $188 mln swindle case by bank staff now on trial >> 23 indicted in $188 mln swindling case at Vietinbank Accordingly, the woman, Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, a former official at the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of “swindling to appropriate assets” and “counterfeiting seals and materials of agencies and organizations.” Vo Anh Tuan, ex-vice director of Vietinbank’s Nha Be branch, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the 21 other defendants received sentences from one suspended year to 17 years in jail. The court ordered Nhu return to her victims all the money she had appropriated from them. The jury also rejected the claim by some lawyers that Vietinbank must be responsible for the money appropriated by Nhu. According to the indictment announced by the prosecutor’s office, in early 2007, Nhu, abusing her position and trust, mobilized more than VND200 billion ($9.43 million) in capital from many banks, organizations, and individuals at high interest rates to invest in real estate.

In order to pay the loans, Nhu had borrowed money from a loan shark, Pham Huu Chi, since 2008 at exorbitant interest rates of 0.5-0.6 percent per day, over 10 times higher than the highest lending rate regulated by the State Bank of Vietnam at that time.

Two years later, Nhu began to fall into insolvency and turned to swindling in order to repay her debts.  

Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu at the trial on January 27, 2014. She are sentenced to life imprisonment on swindling charges (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

From March 2010 until September 2011, under the false pretext of mobilizing capital for two Vietinbank branches, Nhu obtained loans totaling VND4,911 billion ($231.65 million) from three individuals, nine companies, and three banks. In the process to obtain the loans, Nhu forged nearly 200 documents, including 110 false contracts between Vietinbank’s Nha Be Branch and businesses. She also hired others to counterfeit eight stamps of Vietinbank and eight companies. After using more than VND925 billion ($43.63 million) of this sum to repay her previous loans and the interest, which was 0.2-4 percent per day incurred to four of her creditors, Nhu appropriated the remaining amount, investigators said.

Among the three above banks, Nhu appropriated VND718 billion from Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB), VND200 billion from Nam Viet Commercial Joint Stock Bank, and VND180 billion from Vietnam International Bank’s HCMC Branch. During the investigation of the case, concerned agencies discovered and seized many properties owned by Nhu, but the total value of these is only about VND230 billion ($10.85 million), much smaller than the total amount the woman appropriated.