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The court acknowledged that the entire damage of more than 8,600 billion VND of 6,630 victims had been fully reimbursed by Tan Hoang Minh, so Mr. Dung and 14 defendants received the lowest sentence.
The penalty was announced by the Hanoi People's Court on the afternoon of March 27, after 5 days of deliberation. Tan Hoang Minh Chairman Do Anh Dung was sentenced to 8 years in prison, and his son Do Hoang Viet to 3 years in prison for the same crime of fraud and property appropriation.
The verdict assessed that Mr. Dung was the mastermind, directing the entire process from the first actions to the use of the embezzled money, so the highest sentence was needed. His son, Do Hoang Viet, acted on orders from his superior, who was also his biological father, and played an active supporting role, but he consciously confessed to his actions and completely followed his father's instructions.
According to the court of first instance, Tan Hoang Minh is a family company, the remaining 9 officials of the group are just salaried employees, following the instructions of Mr. Dung and his son and also do not benefit, so they are considered accomplices, having a role after Viet.
The defendants from the two auditing companies colluded with Tan Hoang Minh to fully accept the revised audit report, were accomplices but only played a role in the conditional stage, the lowest role, the verdict analyzed.
The defendants were all assessed as sincere and repentant, and many victims asked for leniency. Mr. Dung’s family paid more than 5,600 billion VND, while the remaining 13 defendants paid more than 900 million VND.
Along with the amount of money Tan Hoang Minh seized by the investigation agency, the court concluded that "all damages in the case have been fully remedied." These are mitigating circumstances for the Trial Panel to decide to sentence the 15 defendants to sentences below the lowest level of the penalty range.
The victim is not paid interest.
In response to the victims' opinions on interest payment, the court of first instance found that this was a criminal case, only deciding on civil compensation liability related to the amount of money misappropriated, so there was no basis for calculating the types of interest as requested by the victims.
This request will only be considered after the judgment determining the defendants' compensation liability comes into legal effect. Other damages unrelated to the amount of money misappropriated will also have no basis for consideration.
Defendant Dung's opinion that he agreed to pay interest on bonds purchased before the time of prosecution was voluntary and not within the scope of this case. According to the principle of compensation, the defendants must be required to jointly compensate the victims for the entire amount of money they have appropriated. However, the victims have paid the full amount of money to Tan Hoang Minh and in fact, the use of this money was decided by Mr. Dung, the other defendants did not benefit and did not have a decisive role. Therefore, to ensure fairness for the defendants, the court believes that defendant Dung must be forced to compensate the entire damage of more than VND 8,600 billion to 6,630 victims.
With more than 900 million VND paid by 13 other defendants, although there was no obligation to compensate but considered a mitigating factor, the court decided to confiscate it.
For other individuals and organizations, from the time the investigation agency publicly announces the investigation conclusion until the trial, if their names are not on the list of victims but they do not declare or present them, if there is a request later, they will be resolved in another case.
The verdict stated that Tan Hoang Minh's financial difficulties were revealed in early 2022, when Mr. Dung directed his son to find ways to raise capital. Viet proposed and his father approved the plan to issue bonds through companies in the Tan Hoang Minh "ecosystem".
Viet directed his subordinates to edit financial reports so that the companies were qualified for issuance, then signed contracts to implement fake cooperation projects to gain investors' trust.
More than 90 million bonds worth more than 10,000 billion VND were sold to Tan Hoang Minh by "running fake cash flow" so that this group could then divide the maturity period, resell it to the people, and collect 14,000 billion VND.
Of this amount, more than VND5,000 billion was used by Tan Hoang Minh to get later buyers to pay earlier buyers. Therefore, the amount of money the defendants appropriated was determined by the court to be more than VND8,600 billion, which was fully recovered during the prosecution process.
During the 4 days of questioning and debate, the defendants all admitted their actions, saying that their motive for committing the crime was to help businesses overcome difficulties, and that they did not intend to defraud bond buyers, and did not expect such serious consequences. Tan Hoang Minh officials admitted that they acted according to instructions and did not benefit.
More than 1,000 victims were present on the opening day of the trial, gradually decreasing in the following days. According to the electronic screen of the Hanoi People's Court displaying the list of victims outside the courtroom, the amount of money invested by individuals ranges from 100 million to nearly 20 billion VND.
They said they invested because they trusted the large corporation and did business transparently, and now they all want their money back, but there are two opinions, whether they should receive interest or not.
Chairman Tan Hoang Minh therefore promised to pay interest on the bonds purchased before he was arrested, and for the rest, he will comply with the court's decision.
The Procuracy believes that the purchase of bonds with Tan Hoang Minh is a civil transaction, but the issuance of bonds is illegal, so it should be declared invalid. According to the regulations on handling the consequences of invalid civil transactions, the terms of the contract are invalid and have no effect. Therefore, regarding the victims' requests for interest payment, the Procuracy believes that there is no basis to accept.
Defending Mr. Dung and his son, the lawyers assessed that Tan Hoang Minh's recovery of more than VND 8,600 billion during the prosecution phase was a great effort, this was the "largest ever amount of money to recover consequences in cases" related to the crime of fraud and property appropriation.
Due to many new mitigating circumstances, after a day of debate, the Procuracy adjusted the proposed sentence, reducing the sentences of Mr. Dung and his son by one year each; reducing the sentences of 10 defendants by 6 months each; and the Procuracy proposed changing the sentences of the remaining three from fixed-term imprisonment to suspended sentences.
In his final words, Mr. Dung said that this was a painful event in his life that made him deeply regretful. Chairman Tan Hoang Minh thanked and apologized to investors, hoping to return soon to continue business.
TB (according to VnExpress)
