Thuduc House chairman resigns

Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation on Wednesday announced the resignation of Nguyen Huy Hoang from the position of chairman and audit committee member for personal reasons.

Hoang, born in 1975, has a bachelor's degree in economics. He was appointed chairman of Thuduc House and member of its audit committee in June 2022 while holding the position of independent board member. At that time, within only four months, Thuduc House replaced people for the position three times.

In the first quarter of 2023, Thuduc House, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as TDH, recorded net revenue of VND47.9 billion ($2.04 million), up 2.4 times year-on-year and a loss of VND10.9 billion ($464,100), while in the same period last year it made a profit of more than VND99 billion ($4.2 million).

As of the end of March 31, 2023, Thuduc House's total assets had stood at VND1.41 trillion ($59.87 million), of which liabilities were VND981 billion ($41.77 million), accounting for nearly 70%.

Its accumulated loss by the end of March 31, 2023 was more than VND700 billion ($29.8 million).

On the HoSE, TDH finished at VND5,470 ($0.23) on Wednesday.

Last November, Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, was arrested for alleged violations in the Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation (Thuduc House) scandal.

This is the latest development of an investigation by the Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency (C03) into the case of fraudulently appropriating property; abusing positions and power to appropriate property; illegally transporting currency across borders; manufacturing counterfeit goods; smuggling and receiving bribes that occurred in HCMC and some southern provinces involving Thuduc House.

Previously, C03 had proposed to prosecute Nguyen Vu Bao Hoang, general director of Thuduc House, and 32 others on charges of appropriating more than VND538 billion ($21.68 million) of VAT from the state; illegally transporting more than $51 million abroad and over $22 million from abroad to Vietnam; smuggling goods worth VND2.8 billion ($113,000); accepting bribes of more than VND7.4 billion ($298,000); manufacturing and trading fake goods worth VND986 billion ($39.73 million).

The conclusion stated that, from 2016 to 2020, Trinh Tien Dung, who has fled, directed many people to set up "ghost" companies in Vietnam and abroad to take advantage of the state's policy that encourages enterprises to export electronic components with the tax rate of 0%.

The investigative agency alleged that Dung had hooked up with many officers of District 1, 3, and 5 tax departments; then together with Luu Thi Ngat, director of Khanh Hung Company, used the 16 "ghost" companies to issue false VAT invoices, legalizing inputs for Thuduc House, Southwest Saigon Company and Hoang Nam Anh Company to get VAT refunds.