Vietnam seeks Singapore’s help as more firms here found linked to convicted tycoon Truong My Lan

Vietnam’s largest fraud case, involving property tycoon Truong My Lan, allegations of laundering trillions of dong and the illegal transfer of billions in US dollars across borders for over a decade, enters its second trial this week, with more Singapore-based companies now implicated.

A police investigation report reviewed by The Business Times reveals the involvement of additional lesser-known Singapore-incorporated entities in the high-profile case embroiling Lan’s real estate empire, Van Thinh Phat Group (VTP), private lender Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and other related organisations.

The report by Vietnam’s police agency C03 dated May 29 marks the conclusion of the second phase of the police investigation and will be reviewed in court in the second trial.

It discloses that the police have sought legal assistance from Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to verify legal documents, asset ownership and the status of assets linked to two Singapore-incorporated firms, Amanland and Regionaland, as well as to Truong My Lan and her husband, Hong Kong billionaire Eric Chu.

In the first trial, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court had suspected the source of funds Lan used to buy shares in those Singapore-based companies. To justify confiscating the funds, the court asked Vietnam’s police to further investigate the transactions in the second phase of the case.

Court documents from the first trial also suggested connections between Viva Land in Singapore and its counterpart in Vietnam – links that were denied.

Vietnam’s biggest financial fraud case

Lan was in April handed the death penalty, against which she is expected to appeal in the second trial. She is the first businesswoman in the country to face capital punishment, having been found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violating banking rules in a scam that caused 677 trillion dong (S$35.26 billion) in damages to SCB.

The court also ordered her to compensate the bank 673.8 trillion dong, a sum which exceeds 6 per cent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product in 2023.

In the second trial, the 67-year-old chairwoman of VTP is accused of laundering 445.75 trillion dong, which had been misappropriated from SCB and bond investors from Jan 1, 2018, to Oct 7, 2022.

Prosecutors said that to cover up the cash flow, she ordered SCB officers to withdraw the money in cash or transfer it out of the bank. They alleged that funds totalling US$4.5 billion were used by Lan and her accomplices for personal purposes; the sum comprised US$1.51 billion that was transferred overseas, and another US$3.03 billion that was illegally sent from other countries to Vietnam. 

Fraudulent agreements involving share purchases, loans, capital contributions and consultation enabled illicit cross-border money transfers between 2012 and 2022, involving 12 Vietnamese companies and 11 firms from the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands.

Along with Lan, 33 other defendants will be in court for the second trial, which opens on Thursday (Sep 19) and is expected to last for a month.

Viva Land links

Court documents dated April revealed that Lan, through a company named Viva Land believed to be connected to her, used US$147 million to purchase shares in Singapore-incorporated Amanland.

Viva Land Group has already made headlines in Singapore for a series of high-profile property transactions.

In 2021, its purchase of the Robinson Point office building from Tuan Sing Holdings set a record, with a price of S$3,721 per square foot on the net lettable area, marking the highest rate for an entire office building in Singapore at the time.

In April 2022, BT reported that Viva Land purchased SO/ Singapore hotel, since rebranded as QT Singapore, for S$240 million, setting a new market benchmark of S$1.8 million per room.

In January 2023 – about three months after Lan’s October 2022 arrest – BT reported that Viva Land put the Robinson Point office building, the hotel and other assets on the market. Mingtiandi, a media platform on real estate and property markets in Asia, reported that both assets were sold at a 20 to 30 per cent discount from their acquisition prices.

Viva Land has denied links to Lan several times. In January last year, in response to BT stories, a spokesperson for Viva Land said: “Madam Truong My Lan has never had a connection with any operations of Viva Land or VivaCapital in Singapore. She was a business partner in selected projects in Vietnam, but never became part of the company in any way.”

However, new findings from the police probe suggest links: A C03 report said Lan acquired the entire stake in Amanland from Regionaland (which held 97 per cent) and minor shareholders. Previous court documents revealed that she purchased Amanland shares through Viva Land.

An Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) search revealed that Singapore-incorporated Regionaland was sold to an entity called Viva Ventures SV in April 2022. This entity’s ultimate shareholder is Singapore-incorporated Ventures Capital (SG) Group Holdings, previously known as Viva Land Group Holdings.

Viva Land has been operating as Viva Land Management & Development in Vietnam since 2020, and is said to share a few management members with Viva Land Group in Singapore, it has been reported.

Chen Lian Pang was both the chairman of Viva Land in Vietnam and the director of Viva Land in Singapore, a search in Acra revealed.

The Vietnam company acquired Capital Place, a Grade-A office building in Hanoi, in 2022. Lan told the court earlier this year that she planned to sell the asset for US$1 billion to cover losses. However, HSBC and OCBC Bank Singapore opposed the sale, because the building was collateral for loans taken by another subsidiary of Lan’s VTP.

The company’s official website, vivaland.com, is no longer accessible. BT was also unable to reach Viva Land in Singapore for a comment.

Amanland and “Sing Viet Urban” project

The court has yet to confirm the legitimacy of the US$147 million Lan allegedly used to purchase Amanland’s shares, raising the possibility that the funds could have originated from illegal money misappropriated from SCB.

Amanland’s value stems from its ownership of Sing Viet Urban Development, the developer behind the 360-hectare Sing Viet Urban Area project in Binh Chanh district, south-west of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

In April 2020, Amanland inked a deal to sell its stake in Sing Viet Urban Development to the Singapore-Vietnam Investment Joint Stock Company (SVIC) for US$170 million, granting SVIC the rights to develop the HCMC project.

SVIC transferred US$116.5 million to Amanland, and land clearance and compensation commenced, said the investigation report.

But an equity dispute erupted between Amanland and SVIC, leading to their filing lawsuits against each other, and taking the battle to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).

SVIC, the Vietnamese firm involved in the dispute, also filed a lawsuit against Singapore’s Amanland in an HCMC court.

SIAC has not yet issued a final ruling on the case. Citing confidentiality, it declined to comment on or confirm details of the dispute.

The C03 report said that Amanland has authorised three individuals appointed by Lan to hold the entire equity interest in Sing Viet Urban Development.

Given the dispute, the legal ownership of the company remains unclear, causing the HCMC project to be put on hold. The asset has not been listed among those frozen or seized by Vietnam’s investigation agency.

Source: Business Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

New Silkroutes ex-director jailed over market-rigging scheme allegedly masterminded by Goh Jin Hian ADV: Towards Net Zero Conference - Apply by 15 Oct