Vietnam investigators recommend prosecution of real estate tycoon

Vietnam’s investigative police have proposed indicting Do Anh Dung, chairman and CEO of Tan Hoang Minh Group, and other 14 associates over fraudulent appropriation of property.

Their conclusion in a case that rocked the country early last year was announced Saturday morning after investigations that lasted nearly 18 months, local media reported. Dung and other accused were arrested last April.

The associates accused in the case include: 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; and Le Van Thinh, deputy general director of Tan Hoang Minh.

According to the investigators, due to Covid-related troubles, Tan Hoang Minh had difficulty repaying loans of VND18.5 trillion (roughly $755 million).

Between July 2021 and March 2022, three of Tan Hoang Minh Group’s affiliates – Viet Star Real Estate Investment Ltd, Winter Palace JSC and Soleil Hotel Services and Investment JSC – mobilized VND10.03 trillion ($412.67 million) from nine bond issuances.

In April 2022, the stock market watchdog found that the three firms had “publicized untrue information, concealing information on separate bond issuances” and called off the nine bond batches.

After several manoeuvres and setting up of false contracts, Tan Hoang Minh became primary holder of those bonds and resold them to secondary buyers, raising nearly VND14 trillion ($576 million). All the proceeds were later found to be misused, including VND5.1 trillion that was used for rollovers, investigators said.

They concluded that the Tan Hoang Minh Group misappropriated VND8.6 trillion from over 6,600 secondary buyers. During the investigation process, this money was retrieved through repayments by Dung and accomplices and foreclosures.

After the arrest of Tan Hoang Minh Group executives, the bond buyers protested and asked government agencies for help in getting their money back.

The case has caused “extremely severe damage” and public anger, posed a threat to national financial stability, and negatively affected the local corporate bond market, the investigators said.

The Central Steering Committee on Anti-corruption, directly chaired by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, placed the Tan Hoang Minh case under its watch in April 2022.

The case prompted the finance ministry to tighten regulations on separate corporate bond issuances which, in turn, caused a market slump.