Former FLC Chairman Trinh Van Quyet asked to recover the entire 4,300 billion VND

On the afternoon of July 23, the Hanoi People's Court continued the questioning of the representative of the Procuracy and lawyers for the defendants in the stock market manipulation case related to Mr. Trinh Van Quyet - former Chairman of FLC Group.

The interrogation took place quickly because most of the defendants admitted their actions and agreed with the content of the indictment.

Lawyer asked:"With the two crimes charged, Mr. Quyet will have to pay compensation of about 4,300 billion VND. So, in addition to the frozen assets, does the defendant have other assets to secure the case?"

Trinh Van Quyet replied: "In case the panel of judges orders the defendant to pay the above amount, the defendant requests to use all of his personal assets that are currently frozen to pay the amount." The former Chairman of FLC said that the estimated assets of nearly 5,000 billion that are currently frozen are all of his accumulated assets over more than 20 years of his career.

"The defendant earnestly hopes to be given favorable conditions and have the blockade lifted to remedy the situation," Trinh Van Quyet expressed, adding that he had just been given favorable conditions to sell his "most devoted child", Bamboo Airways. The proceeds of nearly VND200 billion were used by the family to remedy the consequences of the case. The remaining VND500 billion that the partner will pay will also be immediately deposited into the temporary account of the authorities.

"If I am found responsible for the above amount, I am willing to accept the verdict of the jury and always want to make a full recovery. I also want to take full responsibility for the other defendants involved," Mr. Quyet expressed.

The lawyer asked, if all the assets are still not enough to recover, what other options does the defendant have? Trinh Van Quyet replied, the defendant is confident that he can recover the entire amount. Before the trial, the defendant encouraged his family to borrow money and pay an additional 23 billion VND, and during the trial, the defendant asked his family to try to borrow another 25.1 billion VND.

"The defendant respectfully requests that the authorities create conditions for the businesses in which the defendant has shares to operate normally, and create conditions for the stocks of these businesses to be able to trade normally. The defendant asks the panel of judges to give me the opportunity to return to the community soon to continue working, and to be able to pay all the money to remedy the consequences," Trinh Van Quyet said.

The defendant said he had no intention of defrauding investors. When he decided to buy back Faros Company, he only wanted to build this company into a "brand" for FLC.

"There was a time when Faros shares were worth nearly VND200,000, the defendant did not sell, but at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to difficulties, he had to sell for VND2,000-3,000," the defendant stated, affirming that Faros' value was greater than that because it is a large company that has been implementing many large projects in many provinces.

"The defendant never wanted to sell Faros shares, but due to difficulties due to the pandemic, he had to sell. After resolving the difficulties, I would buy them back, but before I could do so, I was arrested in March 2022," Mr. Quyet added.

Previously, in court, Ms. Le Ngoc Diep (Trinh Van Quyet's wife) said that all the assets that the investigation agency had frozen and seized during the investigation phase of the case were the joint assets of the couple. Many assets were also being mortgaged to borrow money from a number of banks.

"I agree to use all of that property to remedy the consequences, because Mr. Quyet's wish during his detention was to sell his property and borrow from relatives and friends to remedy the consequences of this case," Ms. Diep stated.

According to Trinh Van Quyet's wife, the files of the frozen, seized assets and mortgaged assets have been sent to the investigation agency and the prosecutor's office. Therefore, she cannot know exactly.

Ms. Diep said that as of today (July 23), the family has fulfilled the defendant Quyet's wish, continuing to mobilize and borrow to pay an additional 25.1 billion VND. Before the trial took place, Ms. Diep paid an additional 23 billion VND on behalf of her husband. Thus, the total amount of money Mr. Trinh Van Quyet spent to compensate for the consequences of the case is nearly 240 billion VND.