Vietnam property magnate indicted in massive bond scam

Do Anh Dung, chairman and CEO of Tan Hoang Minh Group, has been indicted along with 14 associates for fraudulent appropriation of property in a bond scandal.

The indictment, part of a crackdown on corporate violations, was announced by the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam Tuesday. It said the indictment was based on conclusions of Ministry of Public Security investigators released in September, 18 months after Dung and his associates were arrested.

Accordingly, Dung was the mastermind of a corporate bond fraud that involved three subsidiaries of Tan Hoang Minh Group, a luxury real estate developer, which appropriated VND8.64 trillion ($356 million) from 6,630 victims, mostly amateur bond investors.

Dung directed his subordinates to use three subsidiaries – Viet Star Real Estate Investment Ltd, Winter Palace JSC and Soleil Hotel Services and Investment JSC – to make up false transactions and hired auditing and price appraisal firms to facilitate nine bond issuances worth a combined VND10.03 trillion ($413 million).

After several manoeuvres, Tan Hoang Minh became primary holder of those bonds and resold them to secondary buyers, raising nearly VND14 trillion ($576 million). The property developer used VND5.1 trillion of the proceeds for rollovers before the case was cracked in April 2022.

Do Hoang Viet, son of Dung and deputy general director of Tan Hoang Minh, was the main executor of the bond scam with the support of 13 other executives, including 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.

Dung has handed over to the police all the money he has been accused of appropriating.

Under Article 174 of the Criminal Code, Dung faces the possibility of a life sentence.

The case was put under the watch of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-corruption directly chaired by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who has repeatedly vowed to root out corruption in one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia.