Developer Tan Hoang Minh Group chairman arrested

Do Anh Dung, Chairman of property developer Tan Hoang Minh Group, was detained by investigative police on Tuesday for allegedly “defrauding to appropriate property”.

Dung, 61, chaired the company credited for developing many super luxury apartment projects in “golden” land areas across Hanoi since 2006, along with Minh Viet Securities Investment Fund Management JSC.

The Ministry of Public Security’s investigative agency also arrested five others, including Do Hoang Viet, son of Dung and Deputy General Director of Tan Hoang Minh; Nguyen Manh Hung, former Chairman of Ngoi Sao Viet Real Estate Investment Company (Viet Star); Tran Hong Son, Chairman of Soleil Hotel Services and Investment JSC; Nguyen Khoa Duc, Chairman cum General Director of Winter Palace JSC; Le Van Thinh, Deputy General Director of Tan Hoang Minh; and Phung The Tinh, former Chief Accountant of the group on the same accusation.

Vietnam’s stock market watchdog on Monday called off nine separate bond issuances totaling VND10,030 billion (about $439 million) in value by three companies under Tan Hoang Minh due to its provision of “untrue information”.

The State Securities Commission said the bond issues were done from July 2021 to March 2022 by Viet Star Real Estate Investment Ltd, Winter Palace JSC, and Soleil Hotel Services and Investment JSC.

The three firms had “publicized untrue information, concealing information in separate bond issuances," the regulator said. Organizations having taken up depository and registration for the bonds must terminate bond transfers.

Tan Hoang Minh recently triggered enormous controversy when its subsidiary Viet Star won an auction, which allowed it to acquire a prime plot of land in the Thu Thiem new urban area of Ho Chi Minh City.

The winning price was VND24.5 trillion ($1.07 billion), or VND2.45 billion ($107,000) per square meter, which proved so unbelievably high that many people suspected the group sought larger proceeds from its bond issuances, or to borrow bigger loans given the huge collateral value, or to inflate the price of land surrounding the plot.

Tan Hoang Minh later decided to abandon the auction, which meant it lost nearly VND588.5 billion ($25.74 million) in deposit.

Dung then sent a letter to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other top leaders, admitting that the winning price of $107,000 per square meter could lead to negative consequences for the market. He wrote that Tan Hoang Minh had abandoned the auction and accepted all sanctions for unilaterally terminating the contract. On January 28, it officially abandoned the deposit.