HCM CITY — HCM City Superior People’s Court yesterday rejected the appeals of 10 former executives of the private Navibank JSC for serious economic mismanagement and condemned them to between six and 13 years in jail

Now named National Citizen Bank (NCB), the 10 defendants of the HCM City-based bank, were found to have violated State regulations on credit lending to deposit VNĐ1.543 trillion (US$67.4 million) into the State-owned Vietinbank via Huỳnh Thị Huyền Như, its former risk management deputy, in 2010-11.

Navibank executives were just some of the depositors from several banks and companies that Như swindled money to fund her failed investments with promises of attractive interest payments, in what was described as the biggest bank scam in Vietnamese history.

Navibank received a total of standard contract-based interests of VNĐ 51.3 billion ($2.2 million) from Vietinbank, with an additional VNĐ 24.3 billion in commission paid by Như.

The judges rejected Navibank’s appeal and decided that this commission money would be confiscated to the State budget as it is “monetary evidence of the case.”

According to the procuracy, the defendants violated State regulations on economic management, harmed the prestige of State management agencies in the banking sector and affected the country’s financial and monetary standing.

The appellate court’s verdict officially closed Như’s VNĐ4 trillion (US$190 million) fraud case that was first brought to trial in 2014.

The judges rejected appeals and upheld the original sentences against seven executives of the bank.

Lê Quang Trí, former director-general of Navibank, received 13 years in jail, while three of his deputies – Nguyễn Giang Nam, Cao Kim Sơn Cương and Nguyễn Hùng Sơn – all received 12 years.

Đoàn Đăng Luật, former chief of the capital source department, and Huỳnh Vĩnh Phát, former chief of the accounting department, were handed a sentence of 11-year imprisonment. Former head of the bank’s corporate client relations, Trần Thanh Bình, received 10 years.

The judges, however, partially accepted the appeals of the three remaining defendants – Phạm Thị Thu Hiền, former chief of the legal department, Nguyễn Ngọc Oanh, former head of the risks management department and Đinh Đoan Trang, former head of customer relations department – and reduced their sentences from seven to six years incarceration.

The court also asked the Ministry of Public Security to investigate whether Vietinbank employees aided and abetted Như in her scheme.— VNS