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Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh is known as a famous businessman in the real estate sector, owning many billion-dollar enterprises.

In the past, Mr. Chinh had 2 previous convictions for "Robbery", "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and 2 previous crimes.

At the time of being prosecuted in the two cases, tycoon Dinh Truong Chinh was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Housing Development and Trading Joint Stock Company (abbreviated as HDTC).

Breaking promises with customers

HDTC was previously a 100% state-owned enterprise, established in 1998 under Saigon Real Estate Corporation (Resco). In 2016, Resco was equitized, state capital was only 30%...

Regarding Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh, in 2006, he established Viet Han Company, headquartered in Hanoi, and held the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director. During the 10-year period (from 2006 to 2016), Viet Han Company under Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh implemented many projects in many provinces and cities.

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Tycoon Dinh Truong Chinh was prosecuted in two cases by Ho Chi Minh City Police. Photo: HDTC

After leaving his leadership role at Viet Han Company, in April 2016, Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh joined HDTC by purchasing 78 million issued shares, when this enterprise had just completed the equitization process at the end of 2015. A few days later, Mr. Chinh held the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors and legal representative of HDTC.

By the end of 2022, HDTC's total assets were VND 12,493 billion, of which Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh held 26.45% of shares.

In a recent case, on the afternoon of December 27, Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh was prosecuted by the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department for "Abuse of trust to appropriate property".

The case arose from the accusations of a number of customers who bought land plots at the An Phu - An Khanh Urban Area project (with a scale of 131 hectares, in Thu Duc City), one of the large-scale projects invested by HDTC. Customers accused the company's leaders of using fraudulent tricks, intentionally not fulfilling the transfer contract commitments, not handing over the land plots signed with customers to appropriate them.

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Police searched HDTC headquarters. Photo: CA

Previously, the inspection conclusion of the Ho Chi Minh City Inspectorate pointed out a series of violations by HDTC Company in the An Phu - An Khanh project, including the transfer of land plots. The Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee directed the Inspectorate to transfer the case to the Ho Chi Minh City Police for investigation and clarification.

Up to now, Ho Chi Minh City police have informed about the preliminary investigation results. That is, customers have paid for the contract to receive the transfer of land plots at the An Phu - An Khanh Urban Area project, HDTC Company has the responsibility and obligation to hand over the land plots according to the agreement.

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And Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh's office. Photo: CA

However, Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh, as the legal representative of HDTC, cited many reasons to unilaterally terminate the contract and not hand over these plots of land to customers.

With the above tricks, Dinh Truong Chinh appropriated the above land plots to transfer to other individuals for hundreds of billions of dong.

Golden land acquisition

Two months ago, Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh was prosecuted for "Violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste". Also prosecuted was Mr. Huynh The Nang (64 years old, former General Director of the Southern Food Corporation - Vinafood 2).

These two people committed violations in the management and use of land plots at 33 Nguyen Du Street and 34 - 36 - 42 Chu Manh Trinh Street (Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), causing particularly serious damage to the State.

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The police agency served decisions and orders on defendant Dinh Truong Chinh. Photo: CA

According to the investigation, this is State land, assigned to Vinafood 2 for management and use since 1975 until now, using the land to arrange housing for officials and employees and was granted a land use right certificate by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in 2010.

Since 2008, the land has been approved for a project of high-end hotel – office building and commercial center for lease. At that time, the land was determined to be worth more than 633 billion VND.

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Defendant Huynh The Nang - former General Director of Vinafood 2. Photo: CA

In 2015, Vinafood 2 held a meeting of its board of members and issued a resolution agreeing on the policy of association with Mr. Dinh Truong Chinh's Viet Han Trading - Advertising - Construction - Real Estate Company Limited.

A joint venture of two-member LLC, Viet Han Saigon Company, was established to implement the project. In which, Vinafood 2 contributed 20% by the entire value of assets on the land and a part of the value of land use rights; Viet Han Company contributed 80% in cash. The land was still determined to have the same price as 7 years ago.

It is worth mentioning that in the resolution and many documents that Vinafood 2 reported and explained to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee as well as management agencies, Vinafood 2 will divest 20% of its capital contribution in the two-member LLC after the project is approved and this joint venture commits to buy it back, not lower than the initial capital contribution price. And with this sophisticated trick, Vinafood 2 easily sold the prime land to the private sector.

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The prime land has been decided to be reclaimed by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. Photo: VietNamNet

In addition, the resolution of the Vinafood 2 board of members and other documents stated that the compensation and relocation costs for 34 households living on the land were paid by the two-member LLC. However, in October 2015, Vinafood 2 issued a resolution with a strange exchange, when the compensation and relocation costs of 68 billion VND were taken from the assets of the Department of Public Asset Management - Ministry of Finance.

After Vinafood 2 sold the prime land cheaply and quickly divested, tycoon Dinh Truong Chinh's Viet Han Company used many tricks to continuously change the land owner.

However, from the denunciations of the households, who were employees of Vinafood 2, the Government Inspectorate intervened and discovered many serious violations; the case was then transferred to the Ministry of Public Security and Ho Chi Minh City Police for investigation and handling.

In mid-2022, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai signed a decision to reclaim the land, citing that this land could not be transferred or donated according to the provisions of the 2013 Land Law, but in reality it was still transferred and donated.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City Police are continuing to investigate the behavior of tycoon Dinh Truong Chinh in the above two cases, clarifying the acts of extortion, fraud and other violations as well as clarifying the positions and roles of related subjects.