On 2/7, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City tried Ngo Thanh Uyn (41, president of Lac Viet Company and Vina Land Company), Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh (34, director of Green Urban Real Estate Development Joint Stock Company), Tran Thi Thanh Thoa (director of Lac Viet Company), and Be Van Tung (director of Lac Viet Company) for fraud and embezzlement.

Bui Tuan Hung (41, president of Green Urban Real Estate Development Joint Stock Company), who is also charged with the same crime, is currently a fugitive.

Defendant Ngo Thanh Uyn and accomplices at the court today. Photo: Hai Duyen

The indictment stated that in 2018, Ngo Thanh Uyn, using Lac Viet Company and Vina Land Company, along with Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh, created the Green City and Green Town projects. Despite these projects lacking necessary legal procedures, including land-use rights transfer, land-use purpose conversion, and other legal requirements, Uyn directed sales staff to advertise and sell plots to customers, demanding 95% upfront payment.

Unable to deliver on the projects, Uyn forced customers to pay additional fees to exchange for other plots or transfer their debt to purchase plots in Metro City and Fantasy City projects by Green Urban Company owned by Hung.

From March 2020, knowing that Green Urban Company's projects were also fictitious, Uyn continued to issue notices to customers requesting payments for the Fantasy City and Metro City projects. Instead of transferring the collected funds to the new investors as per real estate brokerage regulations, Uyn withdrew the cash or used it to purchase land in other projects for resale.

In total, Ngo Thanh Uyn defrauded 149 customers of nearly 180 billion VND. Uyn directly signed contracts with 51 customers, totaling nearly 55 billion VND.

Hired as director of Lac Viet Company from June to November 2018, Tran Thi Thanh Thoa, despite knowing that Green City and Green Town projects lacked proper legal authorization and permits, signed preliminary land-use rights transfer contracts for 11 customers under Uyn’s direction, aiding Uyn in embezzling over 10.7 billion VND.

Similarly, Be Van Tung, also hired as director of Lac Viet Company, signed deposit and land-use rights transfer contracts for the aforementioned projects with customers from November 2018 to April 2021 under Uyn’s direction. Tung helped Uyn defraud 87 customers of over 113 billion VND.

Victims summoned to attend the court session. Photo: Hai Duyen

Bui Tuan Hung, a founding shareholder of Green Urban Real Estate Development Joint Stock Company, contacted multiple landowners in Cu Chi district to purchase land for the Green City and Green Town projects. Despite the company not completing the land-use rights transfer procedures and lacking the necessary permits for housing development, Hung collaborated with Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh and Uyn to distribute and sell land plots in these projects.

The prosecution identified Hung as an accomplice of Uyn in defrauding customers of nearly 180 billion VND. Hung and Hoang Anh actually appropriated over 147 billion VND received by Green Urban Company from Lac Viet and Vina Land.

Nearly 200 people were summoned to the court today as victims and related parties. The trial continued in the afternoon with questioning and is expected to last until 4/7.

Hai Duyen