Accusations before the arrest of Tan Hiep Phat Chairman Tran Qui Thanh and his son

On the afternoon of April 10, the Investigation Police Agency of the Ministry of Public Security issued decisions to prosecute the case and prosecute Mr. Tran Qui Thanh and his two daughters, Tran Uyen Phuong and Tran Ngoc Bich, for the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property". Of which, Mr. Thanh and Ms. Uyen Phuong were temporarily detained, while Ms. Bich was released on bail pending investigation.

Mr. Tran Qui Thanh is the founder of Tan Hiep Phat Group (headquartered at Binh Duong Boulevard, Vinh Phu Ward, Thuan An City, Binh Duong Province) - a leading beverage company in Vietnam. Ms. Uyen Phuong and Ms. Bich both hold the position of Deputy General Director of this family company.

Hot loans, fake contracts and then embezzlement

According to the documents obtained by VietNamNet reporters, a typical case is the accusation of Mr. Le Van Lam - Director of Kim Oanh Dong Nai Investment and Development Joint Stock Company against Mr. Tran Qui Thanh and his three sons.

Mr. Tran Qui Thanh and his three sons were prosecuted on the afternoon of April 10 for the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property".

Specifically, in 2017, Kim Oanh Dong Nai Company, represented by Mr. Lam, agreed to purchase 100% of the charter capital of Minh Thanh Dong Nai Company, owned by Mr. Pham Hoang Minh, Ms. Ho Thi Diem Trang and another individual. The purchase price was 530 billion VND, including the charter capital and projects that Minh Thanh Dong Nai Company currently owns; including the project in An Phuoc commune, Long Thanh district.

According to the agreement, after completing project procedures, Minh Thanh Dong Nai Company will transfer 100% of its shares to Kim Oanh Dong Nai. By December 2019, Kim Oanh Dong Nai had paid 265 billion VND and received 50% of Minh Thanh Dong Nai's shares, and is negotiating the transfer of the remaining 50%.

According to the complaint, to carry out the purchase and sale agreement, through a broker, Mr. Lam - representative of Kim Oanh Dong Nai sought to borrow 350 billion VND from Ms. Tran Ngoc Bich and Tran Uyen Phuong (both daughters of Mr. Tran Qui Thanh), with an interest rate of 3%/month.

The conditions for the above loan are 2 sales contracts. Specifically, Mr. Pham Hoang Minh and Ms. Ho Thi Diem Trang signed a contract to sell 50% of Minh Thanh Dong Nai Company's shares to Ms. Bich, Ms. Phuong and TCS Company for 115 billion VND; Kim Oanh Dong Nai Company also sold 50% of the shares it had just purchased, for 235 billion VND.

The investigation agency removed Mr. Tran Qui Thanh and his son from Tan Hiep Phat Group on the afternoon of April 10.

The parties also agreed that when the 350 billion VND loan is paid on time, Ms. Bich, Ms. Phuong and TCS Company will sell 100% of the shares to the sellers.

According to the representative of Kim Oanh Dong Nai Company, the periodic interest payment is shown by the deposit papers for purchasing shares and in fact there is no purchase transaction, the parties only made a fake contract to buy 100% of shares for 350 billion VND. Meanwhile, the actual price is many times higher, as evidenced by the fact that in 2017 Kim Oanh Dong Nai Company agreed on a purchase price of up to 530 billion VND.

In mid-August 2020, through an account named Nguyen Thi Anh, Kim Oanh Dong Nai Company deposited 350 billion VND into Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong's account, nominally to buy shares but in fact to repay the principal. Ms. Phuong confirmed but a few days later returned it, declaring that she did not accept the payment or purchase of shares. The argument given was that Ms. Anh did not represent Kim Oanh Dong Nai Company and this company only had the right to buy 50% of the shares.

A representative of Kim Oanh Dong Nai Company said that they are being forced to buy back shares at high prices many times. Currently, Ms. Bich, Ms. Phuong and TCS Company own 100% of the shares, while Kim Oanh Dong Nai Company is at risk of losing all its assets.

A series of other accusations

In another case, Mr. Nguyen Van Chung (currently prosecuted and detained in another case) accused Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong and Mr. Nguyen Phi Long of signs of fraud in appropriating land on Ho Hoc Lam Street, Binh Tan District.

Accordingly, in August 2018, Mr. Nguyen Van Chung agreed to buy a plot of land of more than 3,000 square meters on Ho Hoc Lam Street from Mr. Lam Hoang for 70 billion VND. Mr. Chung paid 38.5 billion VND. From the broker Nguyen Phi Long, Mr. Chung sought to borrow money from Ms. Uyen Phuong.

The two parties agreed to lend Mr. Chung 35 billion VND. The condition was that Mr. Lam Hoang was still the owner and signed a contract to transfer the land to Ms. Uyen Phuong for 11 billion VND. In addition, Mr. Chung signed a contract to mortgage another land plot to borrow 24 billion VND from Mr. Long.

In mid-November 2019, the parties met at a notary office in District 5. According to Mr. Lam Hoang's statement, he did not know who Tran Uyen Phuong was. At the notary office, he was shown a transfer contract with Ms. Phuong's signature, but she was not present.

Mr. Chung persuaded Mr. Hoang to sign a fake sale contract to receive the remaining money from the land sale. That afternoon, Mr. Hoang received a total of 26.5 billion VND transferred from Ms. Phuong and Long's accounts.

According to Mr. Chung, Long also transferred him 3.65 billion VND. His explanation was that the above people transferred most of the 35 billion VND loan to Mr. Lam Hoang, after deducting 3 months' interest and brokerage fees, he still received 3.65 billion VND.

At the notary office, Mr. Chung and Mr. Lam Hoang had another agreement, the land would be managed by Mr. Hoang and would be handed over when Mr. Chung issued a new certificate.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chung - one of the people who accused Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong and he is currently being prosecuted and temporarily detained in another case. Photo: Linh An

At the end of March 2019, Mr. Chung contacted Mr. Long and Ms. Phuong to offer to pay 35 billion VND to get the property back. But he was surprised to hear that it was a sale relationship, not a loan.

In addition, Mr. Lam Son Hoang (residing in Phu Nhuan district) accused Mr. Tran Qui Thanh's children of appropriating property through fake contracts as mentioned above.

The above-mentioned business representatives and individuals initially accused Mr. Tran Qui Thanh and his son of “fraudulent appropriation of property”. C01 - Ministry of Public Security has started an investigation and in March 2021, prosecuted the case of “fraudulent appropriation of property” that occurred in Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai.

However, by the end of 2022, C01 decided to temporarily suspend the above case due to the expiration of the investigation period and the need to assess related damages.

These individuals and several others later accused Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong of showing signs of tax evasion, false declaration to receive land use rights transfers and assisting people to evade personal income tax in the process of transferring land use rights in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, Dong Nai province and Ho Chi Minh City.

Previously, when the accusations occurred, Phan Law Vietnam Law Office, protecting the legal rights and interests of Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong, issued a notice denying the accusations related to Mr. Nguyen Van Chung requesting the People's Court of Binh Tan District to recognize the land according to 29 certificates of land use rights and house ownership rights issued by the People's Committee of Binh Tan District to Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong on March 21, 2019 as belonging to Mr. Chung's ownership and right to use, and forcing Mr. Long and Ms. Phuong to sign to transfer the ownership of the land and houses to Mr. Chung.

"We affirm that there is no relationship or transaction between Ms. Phuong and Mr. Nguyen Van Chung; there is no relationship or transaction between Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong and Mr. Lam Hoang and Ms. La Ngoc Vu other than the transaction of transferring and receiving the transfer of land use rights," Ms. Phuong's lawyer affirmed.

The lawyer defending Ms. Phuong also said that Kim Oanh Dong Nai Investment and Development Joint Stock Company has completed the entire transfer to Ms. Tran Uyen Phuong of 50% of Kim Oanh Dong Nai Investment and Development Joint Stock Company's shares at Minh Thanh Dong Nai Real Estate Joint Stock Company - the owner of the planned residential service project in An Phuoc commune, Long Thanh district. The transfer and acceptance of the transfer are completely voluntary.