Trial of Vietnamese Tycoon In $146-M Graft Case Starts

A Vietnamese property and aviation tycoon charged with $146 million in fraud and stock market manipulation went on trial in Hanoi this week, the latest corruption case targeting the communist country’s business elite, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Quyet is accused of illegally pocketing more than $146 million between 2017 and 2022. I Photo: FLC Group

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

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

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.

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.