Truong Hue Van is the niece of Truong My Lan, former Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group, and the General Director and legal representative of Windsor Real Estate Management Group. She is accused of fraudulently misappropriating VND13 trillion.
In the investigative conclusion of phase 2 of the Van Thinh Phat case involving Truong My Lan, the Investigation Police Agency (C03) of the Ministry of Public Security alleged Truong Hue Van, 36, and 19 others of fraudulent appropriation of assets.
According to the records, in 2018, Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) faced various difficulties and prolonged bad debt situations. Around August of that year, Truong My Lan met with some leaders of SCB, Tan Viet Securities Company (TVSI), and Van Thinh Phat Group, proposing to use An Dong Investment Corporation (referred to as An Dong Company) and other companies to issue privately-placed corporate bonds, mobilizing funds from the public to address SCB's financial difficulties.
During the period from 2018 to 2020, the individuals utilized four companies to issue 25 fraudulent bond codes without any collateral, including An Dong Company, Quang Thuan Company, Sunny World Company, and Setra Company. Through this scheme, they deceived investors and obtained over VND30.8 trillion.
According to the investigation records, the defendant Truong Hue Van was entrusted by Lan to become a shareholder and a member of the Board of Directors of WMC Company, subsequently appointed as the General Director in 2015. The capital contributed by Truong My Lan for Van to hold was actually funds from Lan and members of the Board of Directors of An Dong Company.
Truong Hue Van was not directly involved in the management or financial decision-making of the two companies; these responsibilities fell under Truong My Lan's purview. Despite knowing that WMC Company had neither the need nor the resources to invest in bonds, Truong Hue Van, following Truong My Lan's directive, still signed contracts and transferred VND13 trillion to An Dong Company, in total.
According to the investigation agency, the contracts included orders to purchase corporate bonds, totaling over VND3 trillion for the purchase of 30 million bonds, as well as five payment orders from Windsor Company to An Dong Company totaling VND3 trillion for the purchase of primary bonds of An Dong Company, and five contracts to purchase corporate bonds with a total value of VND10 trillion.
Additionally, Van authorized 25 payment orders from Windsor Company to An Dong Company, totaling VND10 trillion for the purchase of primary bonds. Van's actions were complicit in assisting Truong My Lan in misappropriating VND13 trillion.
During the investigation, Van admitted that Windsor Company neither had a practical need to invest in bonds nor possessed VND13 trillion to purchase primary bonds. The issuance of bonds by An Dong Company was to follow the directive of Truong My Lan. While Van herself was a member of the Board of Directors of An Dong Company, she had never attended meetings or been informed about the bond issuance. Instead, she only received completed bond purchase contracts and related documents with signatures from others delivered by staff.
The investigation agency holds that defendant Van placed trust in the directives of Truong My Lan and was overseen by Nguyen Huu Hieu, Deputy General Director of An Dong, in checking and controlling the content of the contracts. Consequently, she signed all contracts and forged documents to create bonds, did not benefit from them, and voluntarily contributed funds to alleviate some of the consequences of the case.
