The Real Estate Mogul, Do Anh Dung, Appeals to a Higher Court

On September 25, the Hanoi High-Level People’s Court opened an appellate trial following the appeal of defendant Do Anh Dung, Chairman of Tan Hoang Minh Group, and the victim, Ms. Pham Thi Thi.

Previously, in April 2024, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Do Anh Dung to eight years in prison for “Fraudulent Appropriation of Property,” and his son, Do Hoang Viet, to 36 months in prison.

Dung’s subordinates at Tan Hoang Minh received sentences ranging from 18 months of probation to 30 months in prison.

Bui Thi Ngoc Lan, former Director of Nam Viet Audit Firm’s Northern Branch, along with three other employees and leaders of the audit company, were sentenced to between 18 and 24 months in prison, all suspended.

In terms of civil liability, Do Anh Dung was ordered to compensate investors for the full amount of 8,643 billion VND that he had appropriated.

Regarding the issue of “interest rates” for the victims, the first-instance court decided not to address it in this criminal case. Investors demanding interest rates would be resolved in a separate civil case.

After the first-instance verdict, only Do Anh Dung appealed, requesting a reduced sentence.

According to the case file, in June 2021, Tan Hoang Minh faced significant debt, stalled projects, and the impact of COVID-19, resulting in financial difficulties. The group’s credit debt exceeded 18,500 billion VND.

Just six months later, in January 2022, Tan Hoang Minh’s debt increased to nearly 20,000 billion VND, excluding debts from eight bond packages issued in 2021.

Facing multiple debt payments and personal expenses, Do Anh Dung instructed his subordinates at Tan Hoang Minh to issue corporate bonds to raise capital.

The defendants agreed that Tan Hoang Minh would not directly issue bonds due to its many subsidiaries, making timely auditing challenging. Instead, three subsidiary companies would offer private bonds: Ngoi Sao Viet Company, Soleil Company, and Cung Dien Mua Dong Company.

These subsidiaries launched nine private bond offerings, totaling more than 10,000 billion VND. Through this, Do Anh Dung and his accomplices raised nearly 14,000 billion VND.

However, the defendants spent the proceeds on various unrelated expenses, contrary to the purpose of the bond issuance. The prosecution accused the 15 defendants of appropriating 8,643 billion VND, which has now been recovered and returned to the victims.

Several companies provided advisory services for the bond issuance, including An Binh Securities, Bao Viet Securities, Everest Securities, Agriseco Securities, and KIS Vietnam Securities.

During the bond issuance process, the Ngoi Sao Viet, Soleil, and Cung Dien Mua Dong companies signed contracts for secured asset management services with Vietinbank’s Tay Thang Long Branch, SHB’s Business Center, and Vietcombank’s Thanh Xuan Branch.

According to regulations, these banks were responsible for monitoring the use of proceeds from the bond issuance to ensure they were used for the stated purpose. However, the banks failed to fulfill this duty.

For example, Vietcombank Thanh Xuan allowed Tan Hoang Minh to transfer 1,890 billion VND to the accounts of two individuals without monitoring, citing “no obligation to manage the accounts.”

Nonetheless, the police determined that the individuals from Vietcombank, SHB, and Vietinbank showed no signs of collusion or agreement with the bond-issuing organizations to appropriate investors’ funds. Therefore, they were not subject to criminal liability.