FLC chairman Trinh Van Quyet estimates personal assets at $197M

At the People’s Court of Hanoi on Tuesday, the 49-year-old gave a statement concerning his passion for Faros Construction and his willingness to compensate investors.

Quyet said he wanted Faros Construction to be a major builder of projects belonging to FLC and other companies.

When he was arrested in March 2022, Faros was participating in FLC projects in Hanoi and other localities, he said.

There was a time when Faros’s shares ROS surged to VND200,000 apiece on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange but Quyet said he did not sell because the company was his passion and he never wanted to divest.

But due to Covid-19 in 2020, Quyet had to sell the shares at VND2,000 to resolve financial difficulties. He intended to buy them back but was arrested before he could carry out his intention.

Faros remains operational after his arrest and it is still the main contractor of FLC projects. Its shares have been delisted only because the company failed to disclose information in time.

Quyet also said that all assets worth VND4.8-5 trillion that he has accumulated in over 20 years have been frozen by authorities.

This is enough to pay for the losses caused to investors, which is estimated at VND4.3 trillion, he added.

A buyer of Bamboo Airways owes him VND500 billion and when this person completes the payment he is willing to submit it all to authorities for compensation.

So far Quyet has personally submitted VND237 billion to the court for compensation, highest among the 50 accused.

Prosecutors say that Quyet and his sisters have over 2,200 square meters of property in Hanoi, which have all been frozen.

500 stock accounts managed by Quyet’s sister Trinh Thi Minh Hue have VND7.6 billion in cash and 243 million shares. They have all been frozen.

Quyet said he is willing to sell his shares in FLC to compensate investors, but his request has not been approved.

In an earlier statement he said he “never intended to steal from investors.”

At the ongoing trial Quyet and his sister Hue are accused of fraudulent appropriation of assets and stock manipulation.

Prosecutors said Quyet masterminded a scheme to falsely represent FLC Faros’s capital as VND4.3 trillion instead of the actual VND1.5 billion to enable its listing on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

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.