Before that, Nguyen Van Hau used to be a billionaire who owned assets worth billions, thanks to the transformation of Phuc Son from a small company to a well-known one in the real estate market.
Portrait of Hau “Phao”
Nguyen Van Hau (also known as “Hau Phao”) was born in 1981 and lives in Bo De Ward (Long Bien, Hanoi). Hau “Phao” is originally from Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province.
Born into a poor family, Nguyen Van Hau had to herd ducks and ride horses to make a living when he was young. By the age of 23, Hau accumulated capital to establish his own company. After a short time, Nguyen Van Hau became famous in the real estate industry with the nickname Hau “no” or Hau “phao”.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phuc Son Corporation Nguyen Van Hau before being arrested.
Specifically, in 2004, Hau established Phuc Son Corporation Joint Stock Company in Tam Phuc commune, Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province. Previously, it was Phuc Son Trading and Construction Co., Ltd., which primarily operated in the real estate and construction business.
From here, gradually, Nguyen Van Hau became a billionaire who owned billions of assets, thanks to the transformation of Phuc Son from a small company to a well-known one in the real estate market.
Reputation and notoriety of Phuc Son Corporation
Despite being a “latecomer” company in the real estate market, Phuc Son Corporation is still famous for owning a series of famous real estate properties in Vinh Phuc province. Notable projects include: Phuc Son Commercial and Residential Center (Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc) with a scale of 130 hectares; 15-storey low-income housing in Vinh Yen; Urban area on both sides of Phu Dong street (Viet Tri, Phu Tho province) with a scale of 149 hectares…
Nguyen Van Hau when being arrested. (Photo: Ministry of Public Security).
Recently, in early August 2022, Phuc Son Corporation Joint Stock Company was approved by the People’s Committee of Quang Ngai province to invest in the Bau Giang urban area project.
The project has a total area of 495,932 square meters, including 294 commercial houses located on the main road with an area of 46,089 square meters, 274 social houses with an area of 19,292 square meters, 795 land lots… The total amount of money that Mr. Hau’s company has to invest in this project amounts to 3,318 billion VND.
Although it was only newly licensed, Nguyen Van Hau has been preparing for this project for a long time. In 2018, this 8x billionaire established Bau Giang Urban Development Co., Ltd. in Quang Ngai. The initial charter capital of the company was only 20 billion VND.
By 2019, Nguyen Van Hau became Chairman and CEO of the company, while increasing the owner’s equity to 250 billion VND. In both 2019 and 2020, Bau Giang Company did not earn any revenue, reporting losses of 494 million VND and 1 billion VND, respectively.
In addition, also in 2022, Phuc Son proposed to the People’s Committee of Nghe An province regarding the Hung Hoa 1 urban area project and the Hung Hoa 2 urban area project in Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city with a scale of over 200 hectares.
Despite owning and implementing many billion-dollar projects, the business results of Phuc Son Corporation have declined over the years.
In 2016, revenue reached 514.6 billion VND and net profit was 3.7 billion VND. In 2017, revenue decreased to 468.3 billion VND, but the profit increased tenfold to 37.58 billion VND. In 2019, revenue was only 65% compared to 2018, reaching 84.7 billion VND, and net profit declined to only 80 million VND compared to 214 million VND in the previous year.
Specifically, the business results of Phuc Son in 2020 were extremely poor, with revenue continuing to decline to 61 billion VND and the first net loss recorded at 17 billion VND.
Phuc Son Joint Stock Company was established in 2004.
Although Phuc Son of Hau “Phao” is a reputable company, it has also been involved in controversies and left many negative impressions.
In the investment projects of Phuc Son Corporation, there are 3 build-transfer projects at Nha Trang airport. These projects have been delayed for many years and cannot be put into operation as committed by the company at the end of 2017.
According to the records, Phuc Son Corporation is the investor assigned by Khanh Hoa province to implement projects such as roads, connecting nodes at Nha Trang airport; ring road connecting the Ngoc Hoi intersection and the Ngoc Hoi traffic junction project under the BT contract form.
The capital source for payment for BT projects is land funds belonging to the Nha Trang central area for trade, services, finance, and tourism.
As of August 2022, the total progress of the 3 BT projects of Phuc Son Corporation has reached about 38%, and the total investment cost is 1,284 billion VND. The delayed progress of Phuc Son Corporation’s BT projects has caused much public outrage.
Also related to activities in Khanh Hoa, Phuc Son Corporation has been demanded by the province to pay nearly 12,000 billion VND for the Nha Trang commercial, service, finance, and tourism central area project.
Specifically, in August 2022, the People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa province sent a document to Phuc Son Corporation regarding the performance of financial obligations in the above-mentioned project with an amount of 11,994 billion VND.
This amount is based on the conclusions of the Central Inspection Commission in Announcement No. 680, 2019 and a recent document of the Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee.
Immediately after receiving the notification from the provincial People’s Committee requesting the payment of the above-mentioned amount, on August 8, 2022, Nguyen Van Hau, General Director of Phuc Son Corporation Joint Stock Company, sent a document stating “Regarding the amount to be paid of 11,994.92 billion VND as requested by the Provincial People’s Committee and the Provincial Tax Department, the investor realizes that there is not enough legal basis to calculate, determine, and ensure the fairness according to the principle of equal price in the implementation of investment and construction of projects under the BT form (due to the approval of land prices in the Nha Trang airport area and the payment procedures for BT projects have not been implemented)”.
Currently, the violations related to the projects and land in Nha Trang airport that “show signs of crimes” have been transferred by the Khanh Hoa provincial police to the investigating agency under the Ministry of National Defence for consideration and handling according to jurisdiction.
Therefore, regarding the amount that the province has notified but Phuc Son Joint Stock Company has not accepted to pay into the state budget (11,994.92 billion VND), according to the leadership of the functional agencies of Khanh Hoa province, it must wait for the investigation results of the investigating agency under the Ministry of National Defence or the verdict of the court to force the business to comply and implement.
Most recently, on February 26, 2024, the Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security has initiated a case of “Serious violation of accounting regulations” at Phuc Son Corporation Joint Stock Company, Thăng Long Investment and Commercial Real Estate Joint Stock Company, and related units.
The Investigation Agency also issued decisions to initiate criminal proceedings, temporarily detain Nguyen Van Hau – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phuc Son Corporation Joint Stock Company; Nguyen Thi Hang (Deputy General Director of Phuc Son Corporation Joint Stock Company); Do Thi Mai (Chief Accountant of Phuc Son Corporation Joint Stock Company); Hoang Thi Tuyet Hanh (Accountant, Phuc Son Corporation Joint Stock Company); Tran Huu Dinh (Director of Nam A Group Investment Joint Stock Company); Nguyen Hong Son (self-employed labor).
The above suspects were prosecuted for falsifying, making false statements, and not recording revenue, related assets, etc. in accounting books, causing particularly serious damage to the State.
