Vietnamese real estate tycoon, five accomplices arrested for fraud

The Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency has initiated criminal proceedings and detained a real estate tycoon and five accomplices at two companies on charges of “violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences.”

The six detainees are Nguyen Van Hau (43), chairman of Phuc Son Group JSC; three of his subordinates at the company – deputy general director Nguyen Thi Hang (47), chief accountant Do Thi Mai (39), and accountant Hoang Thi Tuyet Hanh (37); Tran Huu Dinh (42), director of Nam A Group Investment JSC; and Nguyen Hong Son (29), a freelancer.

The arrests are to serve an ongoing investigation at Phuc Son Group, Thang Long Real Estate and Trading Investment, and related companies, said a spokesperson with the Ministry of Public Security.

According to the investigators, the suspects are believed to have falsified documents and concealed revenues and assets, causing “particularly serious” damage to the state, violating Article 221 of the 2015 Penal Code.

Hau established Phuc Son Group in 2004 and held a 99% stake in it when its charter capital was raised to VND2 trillion ($81 million) as of October 2018. Its total assets swelled from VND2.78 trillion ($113 million) in 2016 to VND7.82 trillion ($317.3 million) in 2019.

The company has a large portfolio of properties in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, where it is headquartered. It has won bids to carry out a series of large-scale infrastructure projects in the northern and central regions.

Before Hau’s arrest, the group had been awarded three Build-Transfer (BT) road projects linked to Nha Trang airport in the southern province of Khanh Hoa. But the projects were advancing at snail’s pace, it has been reported.

In August 2022, the Khanh Hoa administration asked the company to pay back VND12 trillion ($496.8 million) to the state budget following conclusions of the Central Commission of Inspection and the Government Inspectorate about a 62.9-hectare real estate project, which was the trade-off for the three BT projects.