On Thursday, Vietnam’s top soft drinks mogul was sentenced to eight years in prison for a $40 million fraud case, becoming the latest high-profile corporate personality caught up in the country’s massive anti-corruption operation.
Over 4,400 people, including politicians and major business figures, have been charged with criminal charges as part of the communist country’s extensive battle to eradicate pervasive corruption.
Tran Qui Thanh and his two daughters were found guilty by a Ho Chi Minh City court of defrauding investors with loans in 2019 and 2020.
Thanh, the 71-year-old chairman of beverage business Tan Hiep Phat, was found to have orchestrated frauds to seize assets used as collateral for loans, according to state media reports.
Even when the borrowers paid back the money with interest, Thanh refused to return the assets on different pretexts, including claiming they had forfeited their repurchase rights owing to contract breaches.
The court sentenced Thanh’s 43-year-old daughter, Tran Uyen Phuong, the company’s deputy CEO, to four years in prison.
Tran Ngoc Bich, 40, received a three-year suspended prison sentence.
Tan Hiep Phat is one of Vietnam’s largest beverage firms, best known for its bottled teas and energy beverages.
Thanh’s final remarks in court were that he regretted what had happened and was willing to accept responsibility.
“I would like to be given leniency, handing me the chance to come back to society soon for my continued work and devotion,” Thanh was quoted as saying.
Some of Vietnam’s most successful corporate leaders have been caught up in the graft purge.
In one of the largest fraud trials in history, property mogul Truong My Lan was condemned to death earlier this month for masterminding a $27 billion scheme.
Lan was joined by 85 other defendants, including senior banking executives, who were sentenced on counts ranging from bribery and power abuse to appropriation and banking code crimes.
In March, a Hanoi court sentenced luxury property tycoon Do Anh Dung to eight years in prison for defrauding thousands of investors in a $355 million bond scam.
According to state media, Dung and his son, who served three years in prison, have already paid back the $355 million.