This morning, March 19, the Hanoi People’s Court conducted the trial of defendant Do Anh Dung, Chairman of Tan Hoang Minh Trading and Service Hotel Company Limited (Tan Hoang Minh Group), and 14 accomplices on charges of “Fraudulently misappropriating assets”.
According to the indictment, at the beginning of 2021, due to financial difficulties, Tan Hoang Minh had a bank debt of up to 20,000 billion dong, double its charter capital. Along with that, the group also had 8 bond packages that had been released.
To overcome the difficulties, Tan Hoang Minh’s Chairman Do Anh Dung instructed his son, Do Hoang Viet (Deputy CEO of Tan Hoang Minh) to find ways to issue separate corporate bonds to raise capital.
Mr. Do Anh Dung was escorted to the courtroom. Photo: Nguoi Lao Dong.
Dung directed three using companies: Ngoi Sao Viet, Soleil, and Cung Dien Mua Dong, to simulate non-existent economic activities through fictitious contracts such as buying and selling shares, investment cooperation. Meanwhile, Do Hoang Viet and the related persons contacted two auditing companies to “beautify the financial reports” to meet the conditions for issuing bonds.
Through that way, Ngoi Sao Viet, Soleil, Cung Dien Mua Dong had issued 9 bond packages. Trusting that the bonds were issued in accordance with the law, had real investment funds for projects, honest financial reports, and Tan Hoang Minh was a large company with a reputable brand, people easily poured money in and became the owners of the bond packages.
Tan Hoang Minh then signed false transfer contracts for the bonds. By doing so, Tan Hoang Minh raised more than 13,972 billion dong. Tan Hoang Minh then sold the bonds to raise money to repay debts and for personal expenses.
Thousands of people crowded to go through the procedure to attend the trial in the cold rain. Photo: Tien Phong.
According to the investigation agency, Tan Hoang Minh used over 5,000 billion dong of bond buyers to pay bond buyers before the due date. The remaining amount of over 8,600 billion dong from 6,630 customers was misappropriated by Tan Hoang Minh. Nearly 2,000 billion dong was used to repay bank debts, and over 800 billion dong was for Dung’s personal purposes…At the time when the investigation agency initiated the case, the balance on Tan Hoang Minh’s account was just over 214 billion dong.
The entire damage of the case, more than 8,600 billion dong, was redressed by Tan Hoang Minh and the related individuals during the prosecution stage. Chairman of Tan Hoang Minh was also evaluated by the prosecution agency to have sincerely declared, admitted the criminal acts, made a request, and actively cooperate in remedying the consequences of the case. Before the trial, 1,420 victims asked for a reduced sentence for Dung and his son.
The trial of Tan Hoang Minh Chairman and the accomplices by Judge Nguyen Xuan Van as the chief judge is expected to last for 20 days. Among the 6,630 victims, many people have requested a trial in absentia.
Due to the large number of people involved in the lawsuit, the Hanoi People’s Court has arranged a large courtroom for the trial. At the same time, the court also set up an outdoor stage with about 500 seats for victims and related parties to watch the trial via TV screen.
