The HCM City People’s Court yesterday began the trial of 10 senior officials of Nam Việt Bank (Navibank) for “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing severe consequences”.— Photo cand.com.vn

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Court yesterday began the trial of 10 senior officials of Nam Việt Bank (Navibank) for “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing severe consequences”.

They included former general director Lê Quang Trí, three deputy general directors Cao Kim Sơn Cương, Nguyễn Giang Nam, and Nguyễn Hùng Sơn, and six heads of departments.

The trial is related to that of Huỳnh Thị Huyền Như, former deputy chief of the Risk Management Department of the HCM City branch of VietinBank, who was last month arraigned for "swindling to appropriate assets".

The court had rejected some of the charges against Như and her accomplices related to swindling five companies, ORS Securities, SaigonBank - Berjara, Global Insurance Corporation, An Lộc, and Hưng Yên, and told prosecutors to clarify Như’s role in allegedly fraudulently obtaining VNĐ1.285 trillion (US$60 million) from some companies and individuals.

It had also ordered the police to identify the responsibility of and punish Navibank executives who had allowed their staff to initially deposit over VNĐ1.5 trillion ($68 million) in Vietinbank through Như for high interest rates and for permitting Như to misappropriate VNĐ200 billion ($9.43 million).

The court had also yesterday summoned Nguyễn Văn Sẽ, former director of VietinBank’s HCM City branch, and Nguyễn Thị Minh Hương, a former deputy branch director in the city. But Sẽ is in the US and Hương was ill, and so they could not attend.

According to the Supreme People’s Procuracy, between November 2010 to May 2011, Navibank’s credit board, which included then general director Lê Quang Trí, then deputy general directors Cao Kim Sơn Cương, Nguyễn Hùng Sơn and Nguyễn Giang Nam, head of the enterprise customer department Trần Thanh Bình, head of the customer services department Đinh Thị Đoan Trang, head of the legal department Phạm Thị Thu Hiền and head of the risk management department Nguyễn Ngọc Oanh signed minutes authorising VNĐ1.543 trillion ($68 million) to be deposited into Vietinbank’s Nhà Bè branch through Huỳnh Như for a higher interest rate.

The unauthorised interest paid to the bank by Như was VNĐ24 billion ($1.13 million), of which VNĐ15 billion ($700,000) into the account of Huỳnh Vĩnh Phát, then head of the accounting department, and VNĐ9 billion ($413,000) in cash handed to Đoàn Đăng Luật, head of the source of capital department.

Như allegedly took advantage of such irregularities to steal VNĐ200 billion ($9.43 million) from Navibank.

The trial is scheduled to end on March 16. — VNS