Investments

AIC’s Dominance: Securing 230 Contracts in Ho Chi Minh City

The AIC case in Ho Chi Minh City has exposed how a company can manipulate public procurement processes with insider complicity.

Administrator

17 November, 2025

As previously reported by Báo Người Lao Động, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court will commence the trial of Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nhàn, former Chairwoman and CEO of International Progress Joint Stock Company (AIC); Mr. Lê Hồng Sơn, former Director of the Department of Education and Training (DOET) of Ho Chi Minh City; Mr. Lê Hoài Nam, former Deputy Director of the DOET; and 13 accomplices on charges of “Violating bidding regulations, causing serious consequences” on December 9th.

Exposing the Scheme of Creating “Dummy Bidders” to Secure Contracts

According to the indictment by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy, from 2011 to 2017, AIC, through a network of affiliated companies and collusion with individuals responsible for investment units, monopolized 230 public tenders in education, healthcare, and environmental sectors in Ho Chi Minh City, totaling over VND 686 billion.

The indictment outlines a closed-loop process involving policy creation, price appraisal, tender documentation, criteria manipulation, competitor elimination, contract awarding, acceptance, and payment. Each step was meticulously orchestrated to ensure AIC’s victory in every bid.

Within its ecosystem, AIC employed multiple dependent legal entities and partners (such as Mopha JSC, High-Tech Consulting JSC, Medical Equipment and Environment JSC) as “dummy bidders.” These companies participated solely to legitimize the bidding process, while outcomes were consistently steered toward AIC. Through this scheme, AIC secured 230 contracts over six years, causing significant losses to the state budget.

Education Sector: 131 Tenders with Confirmed Losses

In the education sector alone, from 2012 to 2017, AIC won 134 tenders across 89 high schools and 23 district education offices, totaling over VND 270 billion. Valuation conclusions identified 131 of these tenders as causing losses, amounting to more than VND 142.6 billion. Most tenders were executed through direct procurement methods.

A notable example is the 2012 tender for “Procurement of Foreign Language Teaching Equipment,” commissioned by the DOET, which resulted in a loss of over VND 763 million.

In 2012, when the government allocated funds for a national target program to Ho Chi Minh City, the DOET was tasked with implementing a project to enhance foreign language teaching and learning, including VND 2.5 billion for equipment procurement.

Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nhàn – former AIC Chairwoman before indictment

According to records, the DOET appointed two companies for consulting and price appraisal. The appraiser quoted VND 185 million per set of foreign language teaching equipment, a price deemed unusually high compared to market rates. Subsequently, the DOET approved tender documents with stringent criteria designed to exclude undesirable competitors.

As anticipated, when bids opened in November 2012, four companies submitted proposals, but three were disqualified for “failing to meet financial and experience requirements,” leaving only AIC as the recommended winner with a bid of VND 2.378 billion. The DOET’s review board unanimously awarded the contract to AIC.

Within less than a month, all stages—from negotiation and contract signing to delivery, acceptance, and payment—were completed. On December 29, 2012, the Ho Chi Minh City State Treasury disbursed the full contract amount to AIC’s account.

Investigations concluded that the equipment prices were inflated, and the bidder selection process severely violated the Law on Bidding, resulting in a loss of over VND 763 million to the state budget.

This tender is just one of the 230 contracts AIC secured in Ho Chi Minh City using the same method: establishing a network of “dummy bidders,” manipulating criteria to eliminate genuine competitors, and exploiting loopholes in bidding management.

Case files reveal that bidding procedures in many units were reduced to mere formalities, entirely dependent on the approval authority of select individuals.

Call for Former AIC Chairwoman to Surrender

Ahead of the trial, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court issued a notice urging Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nhàn and accomplices—Nguyễn Đăng Tấn (AIC’s Ho Chi Minh City Representative Office Manager), Nguyễn Thị Tích (former CEO of Mopha JSC), and Lê Thanh Thy (former CEO of Southwest Region Information and Valuation JSC)—to surrender.

– 18:30 16/11/2025