Western sand tycoon buys luxury cars and real estate to 'launder money'

The actions of Mr. Binh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trung Hau 68 Investment Joint Stock Company, and his accomplices are stated in the indictment that the Supreme People's Procuracy has just completed and transferred to the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City to bring to trial for the crimes of bribery, violation of regulations on research, exploration, exploitation of natural resources and money laundering.

This is the largest illegal sand mining case in the country.

Trung Hau 68 Company, with Mr. Le Quang Binh as Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director, has submitted a request to the People's Committee of An Giang province to survey and grant a license to exploit sand at My Hiep and Binh Phuoc Xuan mines in the form of designation without auction to have a source of sand to supply for key projects of the province.

Authorities determined that Mr. Le Quang Binh took advantage of this as well as personal relationships to influence provincial leaders and relevant authorities to create favorable conditions, and with his accomplices, exploited more than 3.7 million m3 beyond the license, profiting nearly 294 billion VND.

Pouring illegal money into real estate and luxury cars

According to the indictment, to conceal the illegal profits from sand mining, the Chairman of Trung Hau 68 Company directed his subordinates to receive payments from individual customers or through "sand brokers" in cash. At the same time, to legalize the origin of the sand sold by the mining company.

In addition, Mr. Le Quang Binh also directed his subordinates to borrow bank accounts from many people to receive money from selling illegally mined sand, then withdraw cash and give it to himself, or transfer it to other accounts for use.

From October 2022 to July 2023, Mr. Le Quang Binh received 170 billion VND in payments from individual customers through many people's accounts. He gave money to his nephew and brother to sign deposit contracts to buy a series of real estates in Ho Chi Minh City and the West, worth more than 100 billion VND (37 billion VND has been paid); asked his subordinates and relatives to buy many luxury cars such as: Mercedes S450L, Mercedes G63, Lexus ES250...; spent 50 billion VND for personal expenses and paid off debts.

During the time he and his accomplices carried out illegal sand mining activities, the owner of Trung Hau 68 paid Mr. Nguyen Viet Tri (Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of An Giang province) 3.1 billion VND; Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh (Chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang province) 300,000 USD; Tran Anh Thu (Vice Chairman of the province) 961 million VND and Nguyen Bao Trung (Chief of Office of the People's Committee of the province) 550 million VND.

Seized 40 properties, dozens of cars

During the investigation, the Ministry of Public Security seized 40 real estate properties of the defendants; 21 cars of various types; and froze many accounts.

In addition, the investigation agency also temporarily seized more than 50.4 billion VND and 70,000 USD that the defendants' families voluntarily paid; of which Mr. Le Quang Binh returned 5.7 billion VND; 31 barges; a series of other vehicles and nearly 20,000 m³sand...

In connection with the case, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Nguyen Bao Trung and 7 others were prosecuted for the crime of taking advantage of their positions and powers while performing official duties.;Mr. Tran Anh Thu and Nguyen Viet Tri were prosecuted for bribery..

28 others were prosecuted for violating regulations on research, exploration, and exploitation of natural resources; and illegally printing, issuing, and trading invoices and documents for payment to the state budget.