Accomplices of FLC chairman Trinh Van Quyet claim ignorance in signing fraudulent documents

The trial of Quyet and his 49 accomplices for fraud and stock manipulation opened on Monday at the People's Court of Hanoi.

After prosecutors finished reading the indictments, Quyet and two of his main accomplices were sent out of the court so that the judges could listen to the testimonies of the remaining 47 accused.

One of them, Trinh Van Dai, deputy CEO of Faros Construction, said that he is a cousin of Quyet and has never contributed any money to the company.

But Quyet’s sister Trinh Thi Minh Hue asked him to sign papers for "business purposes", and he did not know Hue would use his signature to balloon the company’s capital from VND1.5 billion to VND4.3 trillion (US$59,000 to $170 million).

Dai said he was only an executive that was paid monthly salary and did not gain anything from the crime.

He also let Hue borrow his ID card to establish three companies and set up a number of stock trading accounts.

"I had no idea what she used those companies and accounts for."

Dai is among eight people who are given the same two charges as Quyet: stock manipulation and fraudulent appropriation of assets.

Prosecutors say that he provided "significant assistance" to Quyet and his sisters in their crime.

Other accused gave a similar statement, claiming that they never knew what their signatures were used for.

Trinh Tuan and Nguyen Van Manh, CEO and employee of FLC Land, also signed documents that Hue gave them without remembering what they were.

They understood that these documents were used for business purposes but did not know any more than that.

Both of them are part of Quyet's extended family.

Nguyen Thi Hong Dung also signed documents with Faros which said that the company had given her VND360 billion to "run a project."

Nguyen Thi Hong Dung is seen at the People's Court of Hanoi on July 22, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh

But she told the judges that she was a tailor who was asked by Hue to sign papers without knowing what they were. She never received the VND360 billion.

Dung also let Hue borrow her ID card, and only during the investigation period that she learned Hue had used it to open companies and stock trading accounts.

‘I thought Quyet actually had money’

The judges then questioned key accountants of Faros Construction as they were accused of helping clean up the company’s financial reports so Quyet can list it on the stock market.

The head accountant Dam Mai Huong is accused of signing documents to show that Faros had VND4.3 trillion in capital in 2016, even though at that time the actual money raised was VND700 billion.

Huong, however, told the judges that she was only head accountant for six days when she signed those papers and did not even know Quyet or his sister Hue.

She said that she did not assist them in the fraud.

"I was only six days into my job and was not capable of reviewing the prior process of mobilizing capital for the company. I signed only because I trusted the approval of authorities and the auditor’s examination of the mobilizing process."

Her predecessor Nguyen Thien Phu, however, said that Huong already had a two-month probation before starting her job.

Phu is accused of collaborating with two leaders of auditor CPA to "clean" the financial reports of Faros and to claim on paper that it had VND4.3 trillion in capital.

He claimed that he approved the cash contribution of shareholders without knowing who they were or where the money came from.

"I thought Quyet actually had money."

At the ongoing trial Quyet is accused of masterminding a scheme to falsely represent FLC Faros’ capital as VND4.3 trillion instead of the actual VND1.5 billion to enable its listing on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

HoSE executives approved the listing despite not being to able to confirm if the company had VND4.3 trillion in capital.

Investors, taken in by this, bought the 391 million shares that were listed. Quyet earned VND3.62 trillion from this.

Quyet is also accused of instructing his sister Hue to open 500 stock accounts under the names of 45 associates and used them to trade back and forth the stocks of FLC and its four subsidiaries.

He made illegal gains of VND723 billion from this.