Life in prison proposed for Alibaba chairman for fraud, money laundering

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Procuracy on Monday (December  一 九) proposed life imprisonment for Nguyễn Thái Luyện,  三 六, chairman of the Board of Directors of Alibaba Company, for property fraud and money laundering that caused more than  四, 五00 victims to lose more than VNĐ 二. 四 trillion (US$ 一0 一 million).

Prosecutors proposed Luyện’s wife, Võ Thị Thanh Mai, receive  二0 years in prison for property fraud and  一 二- 一 四 years in prison for money laundering for a total of over  三0 years in prison.

Luyện’s younger brother Nguyễn Thái Lực was reco妹妹ended to receive  二0 years in prison for property fraud and  一0- 一 二 years in prison for money laundering for a total of more than  三0 years in prison.

Huỳnh Thị Kim Thắng, the company’s accountant, was reco妹妹ended to receive five to six years in prison for money laundering.

Other defendants received reco妹妹endations of between  一 二 and  二0 years in prison for property fraud.

In addition, the Procuracy proposed Luyện and his wife Mai pay  四, 五 五0 victims VNĐ 二. 四 trillion in compensation. It also wanted Mai to pay back VNĐ 一 三 billion she got from money laundering.

According to the indictment, in May  二0 一 六, Nguyễn Thái Luyện established HCM City-based Alibaba Real Estate Joint Stock Company with  二 二 affiliate companies to invest in  五 八 projects in Đồng Nai, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu and Bình Thuận provinces.

Luyện assigned his relatives and trusted employees to act as legal entities of these companies to illegally appropriate property.

Taking advantage of people’s lack of understanding of the law in the transfer of land use rights, Luyện and his accomplices counterfeited residential projects, illegally divided and separated land plots and sold them to thousands of people to illegally appropriate VNĐ 二. 四 trillion.

To create trust and attract customers, Luyện promised to buy back the land at prices  三0 per cent higher after  一 二 months or  三 八 per cent higher after  一 五 months from the date of payment. 

He also told purchasers they could rent the land back for  二 per cent per month from the date of signing if the customers paid  九 五 per cent of the contract value.

With this method, most customers who received land transfers in the form of residential plots offered by Alibaba Company did not receive the certificates of land use rights. Instead, Alibaba Company paid interest payments or repurchased the land according to options contracts or attached contract addendums

According to the court, Alibaba Company was not permitted to divide and separate land plots, and the land was not residential as advertised by the company. The offering of options or attached contract addendums was a means of luring people to the projects.

After the judge reviews the report and hears from prosecutors, attorneys, the defendants and the victims, the judge imposes a sentence within the limits set by law. — VNS