More real estate related to convicted property tycoon Truong My Lan frozen

The Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency (C03) has frozen nine properties in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang related to convicted tycoon Truong My Lan and other defendants and individuals involved in the second phase of the Van Thinh Phat Group case.

C03 has recommended Lan, former chairwoman of property developer Van Thinh Phat, be charged with fraudulent appropriation of assets, money laundering, and illegal cross-border currency trafficking.

She allegedly laundered VND445 trillion ($17.5 billion) and illegally transferred $4.5 billion overseas from 2021-2022. Besides Lan, 33 others may be prosecuted on the same charges.

The first phase of the investigation resulted in Lan being tried in Ho Chi Minh City and sentenced to death for causing losses of VND677 trillion ($26.6 billion) at Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB). She has appealed the sentence.

In the latest phase, C03 has frozen a number of assets related to Truong My Lan and her accomplices.

The agency has also seized more than VND224 billion ($8.82 million) in cash, and ordered 79 bank accounts belonging to the defendants be frozen, with a total of more than VND92 trillion ($3.62 billion) and $1,653.

The agency has also blocked transactions from 205 payment accounts, savings books, and securities accounts containing more than VND824 billion ($32.43 million) and $261,914.

In addition, police have blocked transactions of shares and capital contributions related to Truong My Lan and other defendants and individuals involved, with a total converted value of over VND12.3 trillion ($484 million).

Proposed remedies

According to C03, on May 22, 2024, Van Thinh Phat proposed a plan to initially fix the consequences of bond packages issued by related companies, with a total value of more than VND1.02 trillion ($40.14 million).

Specifically, Van Thinh Phat and 13 related companies committed to voluntarily paying over VND519 billion ($20.43 million) to fix the consequences, plus the entire amount of more than VND291 billion ($11.45 million) in their blocked accounts.

For Bong Sen Joint Stock Company and Thien Phuc International Hotel Company Limited, which have outstanding bonds with collateral, Van Thinh Phat plans to sell that collateral to repay the bond debt.

At the same time, the group has committed to using more than VND69 billion ($2.73 million) from Bong Sen and nearly VND134 billion from Thien Phuc International Hotel to compensate bondholders.

On May 27, 2024, Van Thinh Phat’s subsidiaries completed the transfer of VND221 billion ($8.7 million) to C03’s account at the State Treasury’s Cau Giay district branch.