Saigon businesswoman faces justice after being on the run for 28 years

Businesswoman Tran Xuan Hoa, 73, has been accused of appropriating more than VND131 billion ($5.37 million under the current exchange rate) from dozens of individuals and organizations in 1994 when she served as director of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Quyet Thang Co., Ltd.

Hoa was arrested at an airport when returning to Vietnam in April 2021 after 28 years on the run. She will be tried by the HCMC People's Court on charges of “fraud” and “abuse of trust to appropriate property” this month.

Hoa used to be a famous businesswoman in the fields of agricultural product processing, food and fertilizer in the Mekong Delta provinces and Ho Chi Minh City more than 30 years ago. Initially, she worked as director of Quyet Thang in Tien Giang province and then director of Quyet Thang Co., Ltd in HCMC.

According to the indictment, from 1990 to 1994, while running the company, Hoa signed credit agreements and fertilizer and rice trading contracts with dozens of state-owned economic units, individuals and collectives. However, she only partially fulfilled or did not fulfill the contracts, appropriating money and goods before fleeing.

In February 1994, Hoa, as director of Quyet Thang Co., Ltd, signed contracts to process and purchase more than 1.5 million tons of rice with Central 3 Food Company Limited’s HCMC branch (Vinafood III). During the contract's implementation process, she used a large amount of rice deposited by the partner in her company’s warehouse to sell to other businesses or mortgage to the bank, appropriating more than VND24 billion ($984,400).

Hoa also bought 10,000 tons of fertilizer from Vinafood III but did not pay in full, appropriating an additional VND2 billion ($82,000) from the firm.

Similarly, she signed a contract to sell more than 20,000 tons of rice to the General Department of National Reserves - Branch I, with a total value of more than VND40 billion ($1.64 million), and received an advance payment of more than VND28 billion from the partner. However, she only partially fulfilled the contract and did not refund the excess money she had received, appropriating more than VND11.2 billion ($460,000).

Hoa was also accused of abusing the trust of many organizations and individuals to appropriate tens of billions of Vietnamese dong (VND1 billion = $41,000) through money and gold purchasing and lending contracts. Also during this time, she, along with many employees, committed a series of fraudulent acts to appropriate assets of banks, organizations and individuals.

Around July 1994, Hoa signed a trust contract with a company under the Ministry of Commerce (now the Ministry of Industry and Trade) to import more than 11,000 tons of fertilizer worth more than $2.4 million from a Japanese partner. The businesswoman then committed to mortgaging the entire shipment to a bank to guarantee payment for the contract.

However, taking advantage of the bank's shortcomings in inspection, supervision, and transportation of the goods, Hoa directed her staff to carry out procedures to sell and mortgage all of the fertilizer to another company and bank.

Hoa also signed short purchase and sales contracts, appropriating large amounts of money from multiple organizations.

Police determined that Hoa had appropriated a total of more than $4.8 million, $82 billion ($3.36 million) and 852 taels of gold from more than 20 units, organizations, and businesses, and 11 individuals.

Hoa was charged with “fraudulent appropriation of socialist property”, “fraudulent appropriation of citizen’s property” and “abuse of trust to appropriate citizen's assets” under the 1985 Penal Code, with the highest combined penalty being the death sentence. However, on October 26, 1994, Hoa fled to Cambodia and then the U.S.

In 1997, the HCMC People's Court and the Supreme People's Court’s branch in the city tried several of Hoa's employees as accomplices. Litigation agencies confiscated, froze and sold many real estate, cars and goods to remedy the consequences.

In April 2021, when Hoa was deported back to Vietnam, litigation agencies resumed the investigation and applied regulations favorable to the defendant, prosecuting her for two crimes: “fraud” and “abuse of trust to appropriate property” according to the 2015 Penal Code, with the maximum penalty being life imprisonment.