'Rich man' Minh Khang and his wife appear in court
(Baonghean.vn) - On the morning of September 20, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendants Nguyen Thi Thu - Director of Minh Khang Trading and Service Co., Ltd. (Minh Khang Company) and Nguyen Dinh Khang - Head of the Management Board of Minh Khang Urban Area Project for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
Previously, on August 15, 2021, the Provincial Police Investigation Agency issued Decision No. 110/VPĐTCAT to prosecute a criminal case on the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" atMinh Khang Urban Area Project(full name is Project to build a complex of hotel, supermarket, pharmaceutical - medical equipment business and housing in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city), invested by Minh Khang Company. On September 16, 2021, the Investigation Police Agency, Provincial Police Department issued a decision to prosecute the accused for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" against Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu - Director of Minh Khang Company and Mr. Nguyen Dinh Khang - Head of Minh Khang Urban Area Project Management Board.

After the investigation, in January 2023, the Provincial People's Procuracy transferred the indictment and case file of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" of the couple of Director of Minh Khang Company to the Provincial People's Court.
According to information from the Trial Panel, this is the third time the Provincial People's Court has opened a trial. Previously, both times, the trial was canceled. At this third time, defendants Nguyen Dinh Khang, Nguyen Thi Thu and the defense attorney representative also requested to postpone the trial due to health problems, and because some people with related rights and obligations were absent. However, after consulting with the doctor at the Nghe An Provincial Police Detention Center as well as the representative of the Nghe An Provincial People's Procuracy assigned to exercise the right to prosecute at the trial, the Trial Panel discussed and decided to continue the trial of the case.

Before announcing the indictment, a representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province informed that, in addition to the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" under Article 174 of the Penal Code, the defendants Nguyen Thi Thu and Nguyen Dinh Khang were also prosecuted for the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property" under Article 175 of the Penal Code.
According to the indictment, the Minh Khang Urban Area Project was approved for detailed planning in Decision 521/QD-UBND.DT in 2007, with a total area of 7.86 hectares. The west side of the project borders Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street, the north side borders a 72m wide planned road, the south side borders a 30m wide planned road, and the east side borders Truong Van Linh Street.

According to Decision 521/QD-UBND.DT, this project will have a 3-4 star hotel area along the 72m planning road; there will be a pharmacy - medical equipment supermarket and office for rent along Xo Viet Nghe Tinh road; there will be a 4-storey medical examination and treatment service area along the 30m planning road; there will be a sports and fitness playground and trees arranged in the center of the planning area with an area of over 10,000m2.2. In addition, there are 5-storey social housing, townhouses, villas, garden houses... With a total construction area of only about 1.77 ha/7.86 ha, the construction density on the total project area is only about 27%. During the implementation process, the Minh Khang Project has been adjusted in planning many times, causing the residential land area of this project to increase to more than 16,554m2.2.

After implementing the project, Minh Khang Company sold land to customers under the name of the Capital Contribution Principle Contract, and at the same time, used the Land Use Right Certificate of some land lots as collateral for loans to repay debts; transferred some fictitious land lots in the project to some people to appropriate property. The defendants Nguyen Thi Thu and Nguyen Dinh Khang also used fictitious land lots, land lots sold to others, or land lots mortgaged to banks to continue to use as collateral for loans from other individuals and organizations under the form of Capital Contribution Contracts...
The trial is expected to last two days.