Actress Truong Ngoc Anh arrested for trust abuse and asset misappropriation
Vietnamese actress Truong Ngoc Anh, a well-known film star and businesswoman, has been arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on charges of abusing trust to misappropriate company assets during her time as head of a real estate firm.
THE HANOI TIMES — The Department of Public Security of Ho Chi Minh City on October 31 prosecuted and detained actress Truong Ngoc Anh, 49, for investigation on charges of abusing trust to misappropriate assets.
Before her arrest, Dat Rong Real Estate Joint Stock Company had filed a complaint against Anh, who previously served as the company’s chairwoman and general director, accusing her of misappropriating company property.
Actress Truong Ngoc Anh (center) arrested and charged of misappropriating private assets. Photo courtesy of Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Public Security
Dat Rong Real Estate was founded in 2007 with Anh as its legal representative and director.
During the company’s operation, she raised a total of US$9.1 million (VND149 billion at the time) from an Irish investor, who requested anonymity, for two real estate projects, including the Indochine Building on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street in the former District 3.
For this project alone, the investor transferred $4.49 million (VND72 billion at the time) to Anh.
According to the investment contract signed on January 25, 2008, the Indochine Building project was to be owned under Dat Rong Company’s name, valued at about 12,918 taels (22,783 ounces) of gold.
Police verification revealed that before the investment contract was signed, Anh and another individual born in 1964 had already purchased land from four households in the project area under their personal names, worth over 7,917 taels (13,963 ounces) of gold.
Anh had paid only 3,000 taels (5,291 ounces) of gold but recorded 4,458 taels (7,862 ounces) in the company’s financial books, violating the investment agreement and showing signs of inflating the project’s value to seize the difference.
In December 2007, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee issued a decision to reclaim the land for the expansion of Le Quy Don High School and compensated the four households with more than VND26.1 billion ($1.6 million at the time).
The households later returned the compensation to Anh and the Irish investor. However, she transferred only VND3 billion ($187,000 at the time) back to the company and the investor, using more than VND10 billion (about $623,000 at the time) for personal purposes without reporting or recording it in company accounts.
Investigators also found that during her leadership, Anh abused her authority as legal representative by withdrawing company funds, ordering the creation of fake accounting entries and falsifying financial statements to conceal her actions.
Ho Chi Minh City police are continuing to investigate and expand the case, clarify the roles of other individuals involved and recover assets for the affected company and investor.
Truong Ngoc Anh, born in 1976, began her acting career at age 16 and became one of Vietnam’s most popular actresses in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In recent months, several well-known artists, businessmen and social media influencers have been arrested for various offenses, including drug possession and use, trading counterfeit goods and tax evasion.
Among them are former beauty queen Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien, YouTuber Nguyen Quang Linh (Quang Linh Vlog), business owner Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh), Vo Thi Ngoc Ngan (DJ Ngan 98) and fashion designer Nguyen Cong Tri.
