Mug Shot Monday – Bankers Sentenced to Death in Vietnam Fraud Trial

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November 18, 2013

By Bob Coleman
Editor, Coleman Report

I have written about the disparity between the criminal prosecution of individual community bankers who are receiving stiff jail sentences for fraud, versus the Wall Street banks whose employees receive a pass. It’s the Wall Street bank shareholders who suffer as the bank writes a big check to settle a fraud claim.

It could be worse.

A Vietnam court has sentenced two former bankers to death for bank fraud.

Writes Thanhien News, “The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Vu Quoc Hao, the former general director of Agribank Financial Leasing Co. (FLKO) No. 2, to death for embezzlement, Ma Van Nhat, secretary of the court, said in a phone interview. Dang Van Hai, the former chairman of a construction company, was also sentenced to death in the case, he said. Hao, 58, was charged with embezzling almost VND532 billion ($25 million) of state property, according to a statement on the court’s website.

“Vietnam’s government is seeking to curb corporate corruption as it works to restructure a banking system weighed down by Southeast Asia’s highest rate of bad debt, and to turn around an economy that grew last year at the slowest pace since 1999. Last year, the central bank governor vowed to crack down on violations by groups of shareholders working against reforms to banks.

“Eleven defendants, including Hao and Hai, were charged with embezzlement, mismanagement, abuse of power and fraud, according to the court’s website statement. The other defendants received prison sentences ranging from three years to 14 years, Nhat said. Prosecutors said Hao and Hai created 10 fake financial leasing contracts to disperse almost 800 billion dong

“Vietnamese courts held 278 corruption trials this year while the state inspectorate has uncovered 80 new fraud cases involving state funds.”

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