Vietnam tycoon attempts to misappropriate $40 mln from businesswoman in trouble: police

Businessman Nguyen Cao Tri tried to misappropriate VND1 trillion (over $40 million) from Truong My Lan, chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Group, the investigative agency under the Ministry of Public Security said Friday.

Tri, 53, a Lam Dong province native who resides in HCMC's District 3, owns two business ecosystems including Capella Holdings with 28 subsidiaries operating in the fields of real estate, restaurants and hotels; and Van Lang Education Group, which has seven member units.

According to investigators with the Ministry of Public Security, in 2017-2020, Lan invested in a number of projects and acquired stakes in some of Tri's companies.

Tri collected a total of $40 million from Lan’s maids in return for transferring a 10% stake of Van Lang Group.

On October 7, 2022, when Lan was detained for alleged fraud in the issuance and trading of corporate bonds in 2018 and 2019, Tri decided to misappropriate the money she had given him.

On October 21-22, 2022, Tri directed his assistant Bui Anh Tuan to draft documents to adjust prices and payments, and liquidate the entire contract to transfer a 10% stake of Van Lang Group that had been signed with Lan.

Tri initially told investigators that he had not received money from Lan. In fact, he asserted this in communications sent to several agencies. He only said that he had cooperated with Van Thinh Phat Group in sponsoring 2,000 ventilators for the Ministry of Health and provinces and cities in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.

From December 26, 2022 to January 15, 2023, Tri continued to maintain that he had no economic relationship with Van Thinh Phat Group and had not received any money from Lan, despite evidence of his handwriting in documents confirming receipt of money. Instead, he alleged that Lan slandered and defamed him.

Later, he confessed to his crime and filed a request to pay the money back to “fix the consequences.” He was arrested in August.

So far his family has paid a total of more than VND640 billion ($26.4 million) into the investigative agency's escrow account.

Also on Friday, the investigative agency recommended that Lan be prosecuted for giving bribes, violating banking regulations and embezzlement. She was accused of controlling operations at Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) to misappropriate over VND304 trillion ($12.53 billion).