HCM CITY – Low-quality staff and relatives of officials are partly responsible for a work environment at banks that leads to criminal activity, participants at a conference held in HCM City said on Tuesday.    

“Low-quality staff and relatives arrange loan receipts and approval. Their low-level abilities do not enable them to do the work themselves and they must do everything following orders,” said Vũ Như Hà, head of the HCM City Police’s Investigation Department of Crimes and Economic Management.

The conference, with the theme “Increasing prevention efficiency and solving crimes in the banking sector in HCM City”, was organised by the HCM City People’s Procuracy.

Other banking staff also take advantage of the right to manage State assets and use financial and accounting skills to steal State money for private purposes, he said.

Nguyễn Quỳnh Lan from the People’s Procuracy said that managers lacked responsibility and did not often control and supervise activities, creating conditions for criminals to deploy their actions.

“We can see the case of Nguyễn Thanh Nhàn, who worked at the Việt Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Bank’s (Agribank) Bình Thạnh branch office. Nhàn took advantage of loose management and stole VNĐ20 billion (US$900,000) when the bank was providing cash for ATMs,” Lan said.

“Two years later, the theft was discovered,” she added.

In another example, Nguyễn Văn Tường, an employee at Việt Nam International Joint Stock Bank (VIB), used the username and password of his director in the Tân Phú branch office to illegally disburse VNĐ5.3 billion ($235,000) while taking VNĐ4 billion ($178,000).

Participants at the conference said that authorities must pay more attention to crimes in the banking sector by promoting legal education and strengthening State management and inter-industry cooperation in banking activities.

Ensuring an independent role for the internal controlling board in each bank is also necessary, they said.

“Article No 206 about violations of banking activities in the Criminal Law 2015 should be amended by bringing to court all activities violating laws and regulations in banking activities,” Hà of the police department said. – VNS