Six customers of the Vietnam Export Import Bank (Eximbank) who lost around VND50 billion (US$2.2 million) from their saving accounts have demanded full repayments before a court hears the case in April, local media reports.
The huge sum is said to have been misappropriated by Nguyen Thi Lam, an employee of the bank’s Do Luong branch in Nghe An Province, over a long period from March 2011 to August 2016.
In August 2017, after a lengthy investigation, the police of Nghe An Province concluded that Lam sought to woo depositors by raising interest rates, which attracted many depositors.
Subsequently, Lam cheated them to sign credit transfers and blank payment orders and falsified documents to withdraw about VND50 billion from savings accounts of the six clients. Lam used the money appropriated to pay interest for other customers, purchase real estate, lend it on to others at higher interest rates, and build her house.
After the conclusion of Nghe An investigators, Eximbank was requested to pay the whole savings amounting to VND50 billion back to six customers including interest, whereas Nguyen Thi Lam had to reimburse the entire amount appropriated from Eximbank.
Police pressed charges against the case in 2016 with an investigation conclusion made in 2017. However, the bank has still not made the payment, prompting the six victims to hire lawyers to protect their interests.
Le Thi Thu Thuy, a lawyer from the Nghe An Bar Association, told the news website vietnamnet.vn that her six customers had asked the bank to repay their full deposits and interest before starting the trial.
Relevant to this case, police also arrested Dang Dinh Hong, former director of the Do Luong branch, for “lack of responsibility causing serious consequences,” but he was released later.
In another recent case, Le Nguyen Hung, deputy director of the HCM City branch of Eximbank, appropriated more than VND245 billion (US$10.8 million) from Chu Thi Binh, a seafood businesswoman and a longtime VIP client of the bank; and then fled overseas.
Hung, along with other Eximbank staff, paid various visits to Binh’s home to provide updates on her savings accounts. She even reportedly authorised Hung to conduct certain transactions on her behalf.
Hung took advantage of her trust in him to falsify documents to withdraw money from her savings accounts. The VIP client checked her bank accounts in early 2017 and found VND245 billion being withdrawn from her accounts beyond her knowledge.
Lawyer Dinh Anh Tuyet on behalf of Binh last week asked the bank and relevant individuals to make a formal apology to her client over an online article that is said to be incorrect regarding the case. In the article, Ngo Thanh Tung, a board member of Eximbank, is quoted to provide allegedly inaccurate information that shows disrespect to Binh, said the lawyer, adding that Binh considered filing a lawsuit against the bank.
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