A subsidiary of Alibaba Real Estate JS Company in Biên Hòa City, southern Đồng Nai Province. The subsidiary was penalised and asked to halt operations last September. — VNA/VNS Photo Sỹ Tuyên

HCM CITY — Police in HCM City have started legal proceedings against 14 people allegedly involved in fraud at Alibaba Real Estate Joint Stock Company.

The suspects were charged with fraudulent appropriation of property, the police reported last week.

Trang Chí Linh, legal director of Alibaba Company; Huỳnh Thị Kim Thắng, Alibaba’s chief accountant and directors of Alibaba’s subsidiaries were put into temporary custody for four months.

Among the 14 suspects is Nguyễn Thái Lực, director of Alibaba Tân Thành Company. 

In September last year, the city’s police started criminal proceedings against Nguyễn Thái Lĩnh, Alibaba’s general director and Nguyễn Thái Luyện, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba to investigate allegations of fraudulent appropriation of property.

A criminal case was also opened against Alibaba for money laundering.

Nguyễn Thái Luyện and Nguyễn Thái Lĩnh established Alibaba Real Estate Joint Stock Company in 2016 with charter capital of VNĐ100 million (US$4,300). The company has more than 20 subsidiaries.

Luyện owns an 80 per cent stake at the company, while Lĩnh and Lực, Luyện’s younger brothers, are major stakeholders.

The company and its subsidiaries were accused of fraudulently offering for sale thousands of land plots in 48 phantom projects in HCM City and southern provinces. These land lots were agricultural land and land owned by residents.

They sold housing plots illegally and collected deposits from customers, appropriating thousands of billions of đồng.

HCM City’s investigative police have so far received reports of more than 3,300 victims of fraud with appropriated money totalling up to VNĐ1.8 trillion ($78.2 million).

According to the ministry, violations of the law on planning, management and usage of land as well as fraudulently selling bogus projects are reportedly taking place in many localities, causing public concern.

The police are expanding the investigation. — VNS