Đỗ Anh Dũng, chairman of Tân Hoàng Minh Group, was charged with “Fraudulent appropriation of property” by the Supreme People’s Procuracy on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Đỗ Anh Dũng, chairman of Tân Hoàng Minh Group, was charged with “Fraudulent and appropriation of property” by the Supreme People’s Procuracy on Wednesday.

Dũng, through his subsidiaries, issued nine separate bond packages to misappropriate over VNĐ8.6 trillion (US$354 million) from 6,600 investors.

According to the indictment, the group faced significant financial challenges between 2021 and early 2022 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the stagnant real estate market, and tighter bank credit.

Consequently, Dũng instructed his son Đỗ Hoàng Việt (deputy general director of the group) to devise a plan for capital mobilisation for the group.

Dũng and Việt directed and authorised individuals at the group to use the legal entities of three subsidiaries of Việt Star Real Estate Investment Company Limited; Soleil Investment and Hotel Services Joint Stock Company; and Winter Palace Joint Stock Company, to disguise their business activities with fake contracts (investment cooperation contracts, deposits, stock purchases) among the companies to make a plan to issue individual bond packages.

The group also colluded with suspects at Nam Việt Auditing and Accounting Financial Consulting Services Company Limited’s northern branch and CPA Việt Nam Auditing Company Limited - Northern Branch to audit, validate data, and "beautify" the 2020-21 financial report of the companies, contrary to Vietnamese auditing standards to validate companies' eligibility to issue bonds.

Dũng used the group’s subsidiaries to issue bonds with collateral to create trust and attract many bond buyers.

Dũng ordered the signing of fake bond transfer contracts, running fake cash flows, representing payment from the group to the bond-issuing companies, creating "virtual" value for bond packages for the group, to sell the bonds widely to the people, then appropriate and use the money for many different purposes, inconsistent with the purpose and plan of bond issuance.

After validating the documents and the issuance plan and then making fake payments to become a primary bondholder, the group sold the bonds, illegally raising a total amount of more than VNĐ13.9 trillion ($572 million) from bond investors.

Dũng directed the group to use the entire amount of money from bond sales for many different purposes, not in accordance with the purpose and plan of bond issuance.

In April 2022, when the case was investigated, the group was found to have used more than VNĐ5 trillion ($206 million) from the following bond buyers to pay for the first-mature bond buyers.

According to the investigation agency, the remaining amount of more than VNĐ8.6 trillion from 6,600 customers was appropriated by the group.

Dũng was determined to be the mastermind for the appropriated money. Dũng already has returned VNĐ8.6 trillion. — VNS