Six defendants, including Nguyen Sy Khoa (born in 1974), Nguyen Sy Minh Tien (born in 2000), Do Thi Le (born in 1989), Nguyen Van Hung (born in 1984), Tran Van Bay (born in 1975), and Le Nguyen Dong Quan (born in 1991, all residents of Da Nang City), were charged with “Violating Regulations on Auction Activities.”
According to the indictment, MT Quang Da Joint Stock Company was established in May 2022 with a registered capital of 100 billion VND, with Nguyen Sy Minh Tien listed as the CEO and legal representative.
However, all actual operations of the company were directly managed by Nguyen Sy Khoa. Khoa also controlled Nong Son Farm Joint Stock Company, with a registered capital of 150 billion VND.
On October 18, 2024, Hoa Thuan Partnership Auction Company organized an auction for the mining rights of construction sand at the DB2B mine, with a starting price of over 1.2 billion VND. After more than 200 rounds of bidding lasting until the early morning of October 19, 2024, MT Quang Da Company won the auction with a bid equivalent to over 370 billion VND, 300 times the starting price.
The investigation revealed that the financial capabilities of the participating companies were misrepresented from the application stage. The actual owner’s equity of MT Quang Da and Nong Son Farm, according to the 2023 financial report, was only about 1 billion VND.
Before the auction, Nguyen Sy Khoa instructed accountant Do Thi Le to file additional tax declarations, inflating the owner’s equity of MT Quang Da to 200 billion VND and Nong Son Farm to 150 billion VND, despite no actual capital contributions.
Additionally, the auction process showed signs of price collusion. Although Nguyen Sy Khoa did not directly participate in the auction, he played a pivotal role in directing the process, requiring the defendants to continuously report the progress of each round to decide whether to continue bidding or stop.
As a result, the People’s Committee of Dien Ban District (formerly) issued a decision to cancel the auction results. The investigation determined that the total damage caused by the incident exceeded 144.6 billion VND.
After deliberation, the Da Nang City People’s Court sentenced Nguyen Sy Khoa to 18 months in prison; Do Thi Le to 12 months in prison; Nguyen Van Hung to 15 months in prison; Le Nguyen Dong Quan to 12 months in prison; and Tran Van Bay and Nguyen Sy Minh Tien each to 12 months in prison but granted them suspended sentences. All defendants were also banned from participating in auction activities for 2 years.
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