18 indicted in $122.6mn foreigner-related corruption scandal at Vietnamese bank

Among these defendants are Pham Thanh Tan, former general director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Bank of Vietnam (Agribank); Kieu Trong Tuyen, ex-vice general director of the bank; Do Quang Vinh, former head of the bank’s Business Credit Department; Pham Thi Bich Luong, ex-director of the South Hanoi branch of Agribank; and many other former members of the lender.

The charges applied to these defendants include “being irresponsible and causing serious consequences,” “abusing positions and/or powers while performing official duties,” and “violating regulations on lending by credit organizations.”

Tan, Tuyen, and Vinh were subject to charges of “being irresponsible and causing serious consequences,” while Luong were charged with “violating regulations on lending by credit organizations.”

The indictment said that these ex-bankers had been cheated by five foreigners from Lifepro Vietnam Joint Venture Company, resulting in the huge loss to the bank.

Two of the foreigners are Yang Hong, of Chinese nationality, chairman of the company’s management board, and Boubker El Fehdi, of Canadian nationality, general director of the firm.

The other three are the shareholders of the company, including Driss Bou Chama, a Canadian, Ahmed El Fehdi, also a Canadian, and Manuela Polga, an Italian.

All the foreigners have fled Vietnam before their swindling was discovered, so the Ministry of Public Security has issued international wanted notices for them, Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper reported.

As the investigation duration was over, the illegal acts of these foreigners have been separated from this case and will be handled later, according to Thanh Nien.

According to the indictment, Enzo Viet Joint Stock Company, the predecessor of Lifepro Vietnam Joint Venture Company, was established in 2007 by the five foreigners.

In the same year, this company set up a project to build a plant in the north-central province of Ninh Binh with a total investment of $197 million.

They then used the rights to six fashion trademarks as security for their loans at the South Hanoi branch of Agribank, but these trademarks were later identified as fake.

From August 2008 to August 2012, Luong proposed that the management board of Agribank offer loans to Enzo Viet Joint Stock Company, without verifying its lending files and conforming to lending regulations.

The wrongdoings by Luong and other banking officials, including Tan, have caused a total loss of VND2,755 billion (over $122.6 million) worth of loans given to the company.

Besides the ex-officials of Agribank, the other defendants in the case include a number of former officials at the Sub-department of Customs of Ha Tay District in Hanoi.

These former customs officials have been found committing wrongdoings in making customs clearance for the imported goods of Enzo Viet Joint Stock Company and Lifepro Vietnam Joint Venture Company.

Their offenses have caused losses in tax revenue to the state budget and facilitated the swindling by the five foreigners at the Agribank branch, the indictment said.