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Sin Chew Daily reported that Vietnam’s richest woman, Zhang Meilan, who holds a Hong Kong ID card and chairman of Van Seng Huat Group, was suspected of financial fraud and was arrested by the Vietnamese government last year. The latest investigation pointed out that Zhang Meilan was suspected of hollowing out Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and misappropriating customer funds of 304 trillion VND (approximately RM58.4 billion), accounting for approximately 6% of Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Investigators also pointed out that from 2012 to 2022, Zhang Meilan and her group established thousands of entities, hired thousands of personal representatives, and used fake customers to apply for loans from Saigon Commercial Bank. 93% of these loans went to Zhang Meilan and 7% went to Zhang Meilan of old customers.
In this financial fraud case, even officials of the Bank of China of Vietnam were accused of being involved. In March this year, five officials from the State Bank of Vietnam were arrested in connection with the Truong Mei Lan case. The police are currently hunting two former Saigon Commercial Bank directors and five employees, one of whom is a Chinese citizen and the other a Canadian citizen.
According to the latest investigation, Zhang Meilan is suspected of hollowing out Saigon Commercial Bank and misappropriating customer funds amounting to VND304 trillion, accounting for approximately 6% of Vietnam’s GDP in the first three quarters of this year and 11% of Vietnam’s outstanding mortgage balance. This astonishing figure is greater than the combined net worth of Vietnam’s five billionaires, and is three times the net worth of Vietnam’s richest man, Pham Nhat Vong.
(Source: Sin Chew Daily Picture source: freepik)
