HCMC – Do Anh Dung, chairman and CEO of Tan Hoang Minh Group, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in a bond fraud scheme totaling over VND8.6 trillion.
The People’s Court of Hanoi City issued a verdict for 15 defendants in the case of bond issuing manipulation at Tan Hoang Minh Group this afternoon, March 27.
Dung was convicted of misappropriation of property, leading to his eight-year prison sentence, while his son, Do Hoang Viet, deputy CEO of Tan Hoang Minh, got a three-year jail term.
The remaining 13 defendants, including leaders and employees of Tan Hoang Minh Group and two auditing firms, got suspended sentences of 18 months to a maximum jail term of 30 months.
The court deemed the actions of the defendants as severe, directly harming property rights and affecting thousands of people. Dung was the mastermind behind the scheme, thereby receiving the highest penalty among the defendants.
According to the indictment, Tan Hoang Minh Group owed total debt of nearly VND20 trillion, excluding liabilities from eight bond issues in 2021. Thus, Dung allegedly directed his son and subordinates to issue corporate bonds through private placement to raise capital.
They opted to have Tan Hoang Minh’s subsidiary companies, Viet Star Real Estate Investment Company Limited, Soleil Investment and Hotel Services Joint Stock Company, and Winter Palace JSC, issue bonds to mobilize and misappropriate money from secondary investors, mainly non-professional ones.
Dung directed his staff to use this money for debt payment, share acquisition and personal use, instead of the intended purposes. Consequently, the total sum of more than VND8,600 billion, from 6,630 investors, was allegedly misappropriated.