Hà Nội People’s Court delivers the verdict to former bank executive Vũ Thị Thu Nhung on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Kim Anh

HÀ NỘI — An Eximbank branch deputy director has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hà Nội People’s Court on Thursday for fraudulent appropriation of property and document forgery.

The judgment was handed down under Article 174(4) and Article 341(3) of the Penal Code.

Vũ Thị Thu Nhung, 48, formerly served as deputy head of the Ba Đình Branch of Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank).

From 2014 to May 2022, either through intermediaries or directly, the former bank executive defrauded about 100 victims of more than VNĐ2.705 trillion (US$103 million) in total.

The funds were entrusted to Nhung for savings deposits, bond purchases, cash custody or investment deposits for auctions of non-performing assets at Eximbank.

According to the court’s indictment, due to a need for money for personal spending, Nhung began providing false information to several acquaintances in 2014.

She fabricated stories that Eximbank had special programmes managed separately within its internal leadership account system and not publicly offered. These included term deposit plans with flexible principal withdrawal for priority customers or internal leaders, custodial cash deposit programmes and deposits for financial transactions, term bank bonds for priority customers with interest rates ranging from 7.5 to 32 per cent per year, as well as large-value customer care gifts.

She then asked customers to transfer money to her, promising she would deposit the funds into Eximbank Ba Đình Branch accounts and provide documentation, and return the principal, interest and customer-care payments.

Nhung also falsely claimed the branch was liquidating non-performing assets through auctions, mainly real estate. She told prospective investors to transfer money to Vietnam Investment Advisory and Asset Management Co Ltd, which she described as a backyard company of Eximbank’s leadership.

The company was in fact established by Nhung herself, with another person standing in as director. Nhung managed and used the company’s account to place deposits for bidding on the liquidation of non-performing assets at Eximbank.

The deposit terms were short, ranging from five to 25 days, after which investors would receive their full principal and earn profits of 10–14 per cent of the deposited amount, depending on the auctioned asset.

Believing Nhung’s claims, many people handed over money to the former bank executive. However, after receiving the funds, she used money from later investors to pay earlier ones, while appropriating the remaining amounts for personal use.

Investigators also found that Nhung forged 57 documents of Eximbank’s Ba Đình Branch, including certificates of deposit with flexible principal withdrawal for priority customers and term deposit certificates for internal leadership customers. These forged documents were shown to victims to gain their trust and induce further transfers, which were then misappropriated.

To date, 46 victims have been identified, having transferred more than VNĐ788 billion ($30 million) to Nhung. Of this amount, she used over VNĐ477 billion ($18.2 million) to pay interest or profits to victims. She misappropriated more than VNĐ311 billion ($11.8 million) and is unable to compensate for the losses. — VNS