25-4-2024 (HANOI) Vietnam’s prominent figure in the soft drinks industry, Tran Qui Thanh, was handed an eight-year prison sentence on Thursday (Apr 25) in a US$40 million fraud case, marking another significant individual caught in the country’s wide-ranging crackdown on corruption.
The communist nation’s relentless campaign against pervasive graft has led to over 4,400 individuals, including officials and senior business figures, facing criminal charges.
A court in Ho Chi Minh City found Tran Qui Thanh and his two daughters guilty of defrauding investors through loans issued in 2019 and 2020.
Thanh, the 71-year-old chairman of Tan Hiep Phat beverage group, was deemed to have orchestrated schemes to unlawfully acquire assets pledged as collateral for loans, according to state media reports.
Even after borrowers repaid the loans with interest, Thanh allegedly withheld the assets on various grounds, including alleging contractual breaches that forfeited their repurchase rights.
Thanh’s 43-year-old daughter, Tran Uyen Phuong, the company’s deputy CEO, received a four-year prison sentence, while his younger daughter, Tran Ngoc Bich, 40, was handed a suspended three-year jail term.
Tan Hiep Phat stands as one of Vietnam’s major beverage companies, renowned for its assortment of bottled tea and energy drinks.
In his closing statement to the court, Thanh expressed remorse and readiness to assume responsibility.
“I would like to be given leniency, allowing me the opportunity to reintegrate into society soon to continue my work and dedication,” Thanh was quoted as saying.
Presiding Judge Huynh Van Truc, announcing the verdict in court on Thursday, remarked that the defendants’ actions had “posed a threat to society”.
“The defendants were fully aware that their actions would be punished by law, yet they deliberately committed the offences,” the judge stated.
Vietnam’s “burning furnace” anti-corruption purge has ensnared some of the nation’s most successful business leaders.
Driven by influential Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the crackdown has led to over 1,700 cases prosecuted since 2021.
In a colossal fraud case, property tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death earlier this month for orchestrating a scam estimated to have caused losses of US$27 billion. Alongside Lan, 85 others, including senior banking officials, were convicted on charges ranging from bribery and abuse of power to misappropriation and breaches of banking laws.
In March, a Hanoi court sentenced luxury property tycoon Do Anh Dung to eight years in prison for deceiving thousands of investors in a US$355 million bond scam. Dung and his son, who received a three-year jail term, have reportedly repaid the entire US$355 million.
