On February 24, the actions of Mr. Thanh, 71 years old, along with his daughter Tran Uyen Phuong, 43 years old, and Tran Ngoc Bich, 40 years old, were stated by the Ministry of Public Security (C01) in the supplementary investigation conclusion, recommending prosecution for the crime of Abuse of Trust Property Misappropriation under Article 175 of the Criminal Code. Mr. Thanh is the Director and Ms. Uyen is the Deputy Director at Tan Hiep Phat Trading and Service Company Limited, while Ms. Bich is the former director.
Compared to the investigation conclusion in October 2023, C01 maintains the position of prosecuting the three defendants, but the embezzled amount has increased from 767 billion VND to 1,048 billion VND.
 Tan Hiep Phat Chairman Tran Qui Thanh. Photo: Thanh Nguyen |
According to the conclusion, Mr. Thanh, together with his two daughters and several others, took advantage of the provisions on lending with an interest rate of 3% per month, which is below the threshold for criminal lending. When lending, Mr. Thanh did not make loan contracts with collateral, but instead obliged companies and individuals to make project transfer contracts, share transfer contracts. The value of the projects and real estate recorded in the contracts was much lower than the actual value.
The borrowers, worried about the requirement to “borrow money but need to make asset transfer contracts”, were provided with a lot of information by Mr. Thanh to build trust in his reputation and financial potential. Mr. Thanh and his children signed commitments to sell assets to reassure the borrowers, but with the condition that they must fully repay the principal and interest.
However, after the borrowers completed the asset transfer procedures, Mr. Thanh allegedly instructed his two daughters to carry out the name transfer procedures to gain control and make decisions regarding real estate, contributed capital, and shares. When the borrowers fully repaid the principal and interest as agreed, Mr. Thanh used tricks or gave reasons to not return the assets, such as claiming breach of contract resulting in loss of repurchase rights, demanding additional payments, or refusing to accept installment payments and insisting on full repayment of the principal.
C01 concluded that by using the aforementioned tricks, from January 2019 to November 2020, Mr. Thanh and his two children carried out 4 cases of misappropriation, with a total value of over 1,048 billion VND. Of which, Mr. Thanh embezzled assets from 4 victims including 2 projects Minh Thanh and Nhon Thanh of tycoon Dang Thi Kim Oanh; 29 lots split from lot 452 of Mr. Nguyen Van Chung, 4 lots of Mr. Lam Son Hoang, and 2 lots of Mr. Nguyen Huy Dong.
Ms. Phuong is accused of embezzling Minh Thanh project and 35 lots, with a total value of 595 billion VND. Ms. Tran Ngoc Bich is accused of embezzling Minh Thanh and Nhon Thanh projects, with a total value of 880 billion VND.
Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong before getting arrested. Photo: Tan Hiep Phat |
During the investigation, Mr. Thanh did not admit to committing the offense. It is claimed that he did not fully declare and was not aware of his own wrongdoings. The suspect has a university degree and legal knowledge, but took advantage of the provisions on lending and civil asset transfer contracts to lend at an interest rate below the threshold for criminal offenses.
The authorities also accused the owner of Tan Hiep Phat of committing a serious offense for the first time, despite having made many contributions to society. Therefore, strict measures should be taken.
Pham Du
