On April 13, Tan, 67 years old, was sentenced by the People's Court of Area 16 - Ho Chi Minh City (TP HCM) to one year and three months in prison for failure to comply with a judgment, and two years and six months for tax evasion. The combined sentence totals three years and nine months in prison.

Chau Ngoc Phung, 55 years old, and Tran Quoc Tuan, 58 years old (Tan's wife and brother), received nine-month sentences for failure to comply with a judgment.

Tan Tan is a well-known peanut processing company, having achieved prominence decades ago. During its peak, the company boasted over 140 distributors and more than 40,000 retail outlets across most supermarkets and commercial centers, commanding approximately 80% of the domestic market share. The company also exported products to the United States, Australia, China, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Tran Quoc Tan (blue shirt, center) with his brother and wife during a previous court session. Photo: Quoc Thang

According to the indictment, on 5/7/2011, Tan signed a contract to transfer 3,666,666 personal shares to Nguyen Thi Thanh, 62 years old, residing in TP HCM, for 36,6 billion VND (10,000 VND per share). Subsequently, the company issued a certificate of ownership for 45.83% of the shares to Thanh.

On multiple occasions thereafter, Thanh requested the board of directors to convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to re-elect the board. She also sought access to business operations information and financial reports, but these requests were not fulfilled. In 11/2015, she filed a lawsuit at the People's Court of Binh Duong province.

On 27/9/2018, the court ruled that Tan Tan Company's board of directors (including Tan, his wife, and Tuan) must convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to re-elect the board as stipulated. Additionally, the company, represented legally by Tan, was ordered to grant Thanh access to and allow her to extract copies of ledgers, minutes, board resolutions, and periodic financial reports.

After the judgment took effect, on 14/6/2019, the Civil Judgment Enforcement Department of Binh Duong province issued a decision for enforcement. However, Tan, Phung, and Tuan failed to comply despite having the means to do so. In 9/2020, the agency issued a coercive enforcement decision, but the three individuals still did not comply. Seven months later, the Civil Judgment Enforcement Department recommended criminal prosecution for their non-compliance.

Regarding the tax evasion charges, the indictment states that from 7/2015 to 11/2022, Tan leased out factory and warehouse space under his personal ownership in Binh Duc residential area, Binh Hoa ward, Thuan An city, Binh Duong province (now TP HCM), which also served as the headquarters of Tan Tan Company, to various organizations and individuals.

During this period, he was accused of only issuing cash receipts, failing to issue value-added invoices, and not declaring or paying taxes as required by law.

Quoc Thang