Chairman of Tân Hoàng Minh Group arrested on fraud charges

HÀ NỘI — Đỗ Anh Dũng, 61, Chairman of Tân Hoàng Minh Group, was arrested by the Police Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday on charges of “obtaining property by fraud.”

Six other people related to the case were also arrested, including his son Đỗ Hoàng Việt, Deputy General Manager of the group.

Earlier on Tuesday, authorities announced that they were investigating a series of violations relating to the bond distribution and capital raising of Tân Hoàng Minh Group and its subsidiaries.

The initial investigation results showed that from July 2021 to March 2022, Dũng and many individuals in the group committed fraud by using three subsidiary companies – Ngôi Sao Việt Real Estate Investment LLC., Soleil Hotel Investment and Hotel Services JSC and Cung điện Mùa Đông JSC – to distribute unlawful bonds nine-times, totalling VNĐ10.3 trillion (US$450 million).

Tân Hoàng Minh Group recently made headlines by cancelling its deposit on Land Plot 3-12 in Thủ Thiêm after winning a VNĐ24.5 trillion bid on December 2021 for the plot.

The bid was 8.3 times higher than the initial offer, and Land Plot 3-12 became the most expensive land plot in Việt Nam at VNĐ2.43 billion/sq.m.

On January 10, Dũng sent an open letter to many Government and Party officials, cancelling his company’s deposit at Land Plot 3-12, citing “the negative effects that his company’s winning bid may have on the entire real estate market.”

Dũng founded Tân Hoàng Minh Group in 1993 in Hồ Chí Minh City. The company’s initial success was the V20 taxi brand, which gained 20-25 per cent of the public transport market in Hà Nội, HCM City and Nha Trang.

From 2006 onwards, Tân Hoàng Minh pivoted to investing in super luxury apartment buildings in Hà Nội. Most of these buildings are in the capital’s “golden land” plots. — VNS