On March 19, the trial of the Van Thinh Phat case showed that there were many unusual and dangerous developments. This is because Truong My Lan’s retracted and firmly pleaded not guilty.
Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper, March 19, reported: “Van Thinh Phat case: The Procuracy commented ‘it is necessary to remove Truong My Lan from society’.” The news said that the representative of the Procuracy had determined that defendant Truong My Lan was the mastermind and leader, causing special consequences greater than VND498 trillion ($20 billion).
After merging 3 banks, defendant Lan acquired and held 91.5% of the shares, becoming the person with the authority to direct all activities of SCB in reality. Defendant Lan used SCB Bank as a financial tool to serve her personal interests.
According to the representative of the Procuracy, in court, defendant Truong My Lan did not show remorse, gave crooked statements, and did not admit the crime, so this defendant needs to be severely punished and removed from society.
Immediately, on social networks, there were many opinions that this was the way the prosecution gave the highest penalty to defendant Truong My Lan – the death penalty.
In addition, according to the representative of the Procuracy, “it is necessary to permanently remove from social life” the defendants: Do Thi Nhan – Head of the SCB Bank Inspection Team; Dinh Van Thanh and Bui Anh Dung – former Chairman of SCB; Vo Tan Hoang Van – former General Director of SCB; Ta Chieu Trung – former member of SCB Board of Directors).
Former State Bank officials involved in this case continue to be impeached.
According to the plan, the trial is expected to last nearly 2 months, from March 5 to April 29. However, according to observers, up to this point, the trial has generated too many contradictions between the investigation conclusions and the indictment, compared to the testimonies and arguments of the defendants in court.
The most surprising thing is that defendant Truong My Lan denied the indictment and continued to retract. Observers assess that this may lead to many surprises in the upcoming trial days.
One question is why did the prosecutor’s representative in court lose his composure so early, while the trial was only 1/4 of the way through. Is that a “shake the tree and scare the monkey” strategy to force Lan to accept the indictment?
Public opinion sees that the prosecutor in court is essentially just a mouthpiece for Le Minh Tri – Director of Vietnam’s Supreme People’s Procuracy.
If the defendants continue to retract and do not plead guilty according to the indictment, they will be subject to the highest penalty of being “permanently excluded from social life.” Does this also mean that this case will be closed forever?
If everything goes as predicted above, it means that the trap setter has fallen for the tricks of the forces at the top. This force is trying to find a way to rescue Ms. Lan as well as her accomplices.
Public opinion evaluates that Ms. Truong My Lan has been able to bypass the control system of the state apparatus for nearly 30 years, which shows that she is certainly not a novice. If not sentenced to death, she would serve a maximum of 12 years. Because this year, she is 68 years old, 12 years later she will be 80 years old, there is a high possibility that she will be released due to her age.
More importantly, the policy of only dealing with low-level figures, ignoring senior leaders, is extremely dangerous. Public opinion feels that people who once headed the State Bank as Governors, such as Nguyen Van Binh, Le Minh Hung or Nguyen Thi Hong, were let off the hook and not criminally prosecuted?
This is a big flaw of General Secretary Trong.
Defendant Do Thi Nhan asked the court, “The actions are the same, why I am prosecuted for accepting bribes only?” is something to be very careful with. Defendant Truong My Lan certainly had similar thoughts to defendant Do Thi Nhan.
That means, Ms. Lan and Ms. Nhan will “dispose” all documents and evidence related to senior bosses, not only in the State Bank system, but also ministries and branches in the government apparatus as well as agencies within the Party system.
Let’s wait and see, will the “slow-explosive bombs” named Do Thi Nhan and Truong My Lan explode or not?
According to analysts, this is an issue that Hanoi’s leadership tries to avoid, not even daring to face the truth. These are considered “blockbusters” that can shake the current regime in Ba Dinh./.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
