Il Nuovo Postiglione - Trial starts for Vietnam tycoon in $146 million graft case

NYSE - LSE

CMSC	-0.53%	20.81	$
BCC	2.64%	79.21	$
BTI	-1.12%	55.35	$
RBGPF	0%	70	$
RELX	-3.21%	35.51	$
AZN	-1.27%	162.7	$
RIO	0.42%	103.27	$
NGG	-0.06%	78.12	$
GSK	-1.96%	49.89	$
BCE	-0.59%	23.67	$
JRI	-0.58%	12.14	$
CMSD	-0.34%	20.69	$
BP	0.52%	43.81	$
VOD	1.89%	16.9	$
RYCEF	1.84%	20.12	$

Trial starts for Vietnam tycoon in $146 million graft case

ECONOMY 22.07.2024

Trial starts for Vietnam tycoon in $146 million graft case / Photo: Anh TUC - AFP

A former Vietnamese property and aviation tycoon charged with $146 million in fraud and stock market manipulation went on trial in Hanoi Monday, the latest corruption case targeting the communist country's business elite.

Text size:

Trinh Van Quyet, who owned the FLC empire of luxury resorts, golf courses, and the budget Bamboo Airways, had nearly $2 billion in stock market wealth before his arrest, according to state media estimates.

But on Monday the 48-year-old -- handcuffed and dressed in a white shirt -- was led into court by police officers.

The trial comes just days after the death of former Communist Party of Vietnam leader Nguyen Phu Trong, who is credited with spearheading a crackdown on graft at the highest levels.

Trong, 80, died on Friday at a military hospital in Hanoi "due to old age and serious illness", the party said, a day after announcing he was standing down to seek medical care.

Tycoon Quyet is accused of illegally pocketing more than $146 million between 2017 and 2022.

Following his arrest in March 2022, 49 other alleged accomplices were picked up -- including his two sisters and the former chairman of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and its chief executive officer.

According to the prosecution indictment, Quyet set up several stock market brokerages and registered dozens of family members to, ostensibly, trade shares.

But police said while orders to buy shares were placed in hundreds of trading sessions -- pushing up the value of the stock -- they were cancelled before being matched.

The case is part of a national corruption crackdown that has swept up numerous officials and members of Vietnam's business elite in recent years.

In April, a top Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death in a $27 billion fraud case, launched an appeal against her conviction.

The head of one of Vietnam's top soft drinks companies, meanwhile, was jailed for eight years in April in a $40 million fraud case.

A.Imbrogno--INP

Featured

Bangladesh measles toll nears grim 1,000-child mark

Bangladesh's deadliest measles outbreak in decades is nearing the grim milestone of 1,000 child deaths, as a devastating epidemic sweeps through the country and crowded hospital wards fill with struggling babies.

Bolivia farmers return to streets over diesel price hikes

Several hundred coca farmers and supporters of former Bolivian president Evo Morales demonstrated in the central city of Cochabamba on Friday over the government's doubling of diesel prices, AFP reporters said.

S&P Revises Outlook on Freedom Holding Corp. and Core Subsidiaries to Positive

S&P Global Ratings has revised the outlook on the long-term credit ratings of Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding Corp. and its four core operating subsidiaries from “stable” to “positive,” while affirming their international credit ratings.

Moody’s Assigns First-Time Insurance Financial Strength Ratings to Freedom Insurance and Freedom Life

Moody’s Ratings has assigned insurance financial strength ratings to two Freedom Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: FRHC) insurance subsidiaries for the first time. Freedom Finance Insurance JSC, operating as Freedom Insurance, received Ba1 local- and foreign-currency insurance financial strength ratings, while Freedom Life JSC received Baa3 ratings. Both carry stable outlooks.