Shark Thủy Spends Nearly 32 Billion VND on Bribery to Fabricate Fake Revenue

Investigative conclusions reveal that, starting in 2016, Mr. Thuy sought to portray Egroup as a high-revenue, profitable enterprise to attract investors. He approached Tong Thi Kim Lien, CEO of Nhat Tran Company—a telecom card distributor with an annual revenue of approximately VND 2 trillion in Ho Chi Minh City—proposing to inflate Egroup’s revenue figures.

While Egroup’s actual revenue needs were only a few hundred billion VND annually, Mr. Thuy instructed Nguyen Manh Phu, Egroup’s CFO, to negotiate directly with Ms. Lien to conceal the scheme from investors. Ms. Lien agreed under specific conditions: Egroup would pay 2% of the fictitious revenue annually as an off-book “reconciliation fee”; reimburse all profit margins from telecom card transactions (ranging from 0.053% to 0.354% of revenue) to maintain profitability on paper; and cover all operational costs, including bank transaction fees (0.03%).

Payments for this revenue inflation were made either via bank transfers to Ms. Lien’s designated personal accounts or in cash during direct meetings.

From December 2016 to September 2021, Ms. Lien directed her staff to create 12 fraudulent economic contracts and issue fake VAT invoices, enabling Egroup to record approximately VND 2.348 trillion in phantom revenue. In reality, Egroup did not engage in telecom card trading, handle goods, or invest capital; it merely acted as an intermediary, signing contracts and transferring funds as instructed by Ms. Lien’s company.

Contract negotiations and fund transfers were managed by Pham Thi Thanh Tho, Egroup’s chief accountant, in coordination with Nhat Tran employees via phone and email.

Between 2016 and 2021, Egroup reported VND 2.327 trillion in telecom card revenue, accounting for 70% of its total financial statements. However, with a cost of goods sold exceeding VND 2.347 trillion, the company incurred a cash flow deficit of over VND 20 billion.

Based on transaction records and documents, Mr. Thuy was obligated to pay VND 46.6 billion in fees and profit reimbursements. Due to insufficient funds, he paid Ms. Lien VND 31.9 billion between 2017 and 2020, including bank transfers and cash deliveries. Notably, from January 2018 to February 2020, Ms. Lien received VND 20.4 billion from Mr. Thuy.

Investigators determined that Mr. Thuy orchestrated the financial manipulation scheme, while Ms. Lien executed it by organizing the creation of fraudulent contracts and invoices. Nguyen Manh Phu played a critical role as the negotiator and fund coordinator and was identified as the whistleblower for bribery allegations.