By Joe Fotalattee
Nguyen Thai Luyen and 22 other defendants went on trial on December 19 in the fraud case of misappropriating property and money laundering by Alibaba Real Estate Joint Stock Company.
After the testimony of Nguyen Thai Luyen and 22 defendants, the Alibaba case trial entered a deliberations phase, according to reports from Tuoi Tre‘s Vietnamese Newspaper.
Prosecutors affirmed that the State is responsible for managing land and only the State has the authority to separate plots of land or change the purpose of use. However, many businesses have exploited the land investment policy in the past to mislead customers, sell them unqualified land, and divide plots for themselves.
Nguyen Thai Luyen consequently founded Alibaba Real Estate Joint Stock Company and 22 other legal entities in the name of family members and employees to commit fraud and appropriate property. The accused’s names appear on newly purchased agricultural land use rights, and those individuals re-authorize 22 legal entities to register as real estate businesses to draw projects themselves, color them, and divide plots in violation of the law. The defendants used a majority of the money appropriated from customers to buy agricultural land and transfer it to family members or trusted staff. Even though the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court had finished questioning the victims and had stopped accepting new documents, victims still showed up early on December 19 to file documents.
Chairman Tran Minh Chau announced at the start of the trial that numerous defendants had submitted requests for the court to lighten their sentences. In which the defendant Nguyen Van Kien’s wife submitted evidence to lower the penalty liability and asked to convert the funds the family used to purchase Alibaba’s project into funds for corrective action.
