Trial of Trinh Van Quyet and accomplices: Auditor requests to confront

This morning, July 22, the Hanoi People's Court brought defendant Trinh Van Quyet (former Chairman of FLC) and 49 other defendants to trial under the first instance procedure for the crimes of Fraudulent appropriation of property, Manipulation of the stock market, Abuse of position and power while performing official duties, and Intentionally disclosing false information or concealing information in securities activities.

The court summoned 30,403 investors who bought shares (initial sale) of FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company (stock code ROS) as victims in the case. However, only about 30 victims came to court.

In court, many lawyers requested that the Trial Panel allow their clients to use pens and paper and listen to the prosecutor announce the indictment due to health reasons. The Trial Panel agreed to provide pens and paper and said it would consider requests related to the defendants' health issues.

Defendant Le Van Tuan (Auditor of Hanoi Auditing and Accounting Company Limited - CPA) requested the court to summon Mr. and Mrs. Tran The Linh, Le Van Gio and Do Manh Ha to court for confrontation.

The panel of judges said that they had summoned the three people above but they were absent. Since the trial lasted for many days, the panel of judges would continue to summon them.

According to the accusation, Mr. Le Van Tuan illegally signed audited financial reports of Faros Company, helping Mr. Trinh Van Quyet list ROS shares on the HOSE, selling shares to appropriate money from 30,403 investors on the stock exchange.

Mr. Le Van Tuan's actions are said to have violated Clause 4, Article 174 of the 2015 Penal Code, as an accomplice assisting former Chairman of FLC Group Trinh Van Quyet.

At the investigation agency, Mr. Le Van Tuan admitted: The financial reports of 2014, 2015 and the equity report from January 1, 2016 to March 21, 2016 of Faros Company and the collected documents did not have sufficient basis to give a full approval opinion according to auditing standards. However, the defendant still issued an audit report with full approval for the financial reports and equity reports of Faros Company in violation of regulations.

The reason for the violation was that FLC Group and the companies in the ecosystem were large and regular customers, so the issuance of audit reports according to the wishes of the business, even though it was known to be against regulations, the defendant still did it to receive payment for the audit contract.

Regarding the case, Mr. Le Van Do was then Deputy General Director of Hanoi CPA Company, the person who signed the contract to audit the financial statements of Faros Company in 2014, 2015 and the first 3 months of 2016 with a value of 100 million VND.

When performing the audit contract, although knowing that the financial statements of Faros Company did not have sufficient basis for full acceptance, Mr. Le Van Do and defendant Le Van Tuan jointly signed and issued the audit reports, giving their opinions of full acceptance.

When Faros Company submitted its application for registration as a public company, the regulatory agency and the Association of Practicing Auditors met with Hanoi CPA Company to determine that the audit procedures and audit evidence were inadequate and requested a re-audit.

Afterwards, Hanoi CPA Company did not conduct a re-audit, but defendant Le Van Tuan and defendant Nguyen Ngoc Tinh, General Director of CPA Company, still signed and issued the independent audit report.