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Vietnam's aggressive stance against corruption sees another high-profile figure in the courtroom as Trinh Van Quyet, a former real estate and aviation tycoon, goes on trial accused of massive fraud and manipulation of the stock market. Quyet, who was at the helm of the FLC Group, has been charged with financial transgressions whose value approximates $146 million (around R2.66 billion). Once a billionaire, Quyet's fortune crumbled preceding his arrest, where he saw his wealth, built through luxuriant resorts, golf courses, and the operation of Bamboo Airways, plummet concerning state media evaluations.
In a rather stark image, the embattled 48-year-old tycoon appeared in court dressed plainly, escorted amidst tight security, a conspicuous fall from grace for someone previously listed as one of Vietnam's wealthiest individuals. The trial instantiated just days following the demise of Nguyen Phu Trong, an influential Communist Party of Vietnam leader who, before his death, had been pivotal in intensifying the fight against graft, which has shaken the Vietnamese business elite to its core.
Arrested in March 2022, Trinh Van Quyet's prosecution saga unfolded with the subsequent arrests of 49 purported accomplices, entangling figures like his sisters and noteworthy stock exchange luminaries. Prosecutors claim that Quyet orchestrated a complex scheme through stock market brokerages and the positioning of relatives to manipulate share trading. However, hundreds of share purchasing orders that would inflate stock prices were strategically never completed.
Vietnam has seen a wave of such trails as part of its widespread anti-corruption campaign, which has already doled out severe sentences, including that faced by a top property tycoon previously sentenced to death in a staggering $27 billion fraud case, and an eight-year jail term for a major soft drink company's chief in a $40 million fraud ordeal. With Trinh Van Quyet's trial underway, the nation continues to send a strong message that financial crimes, regardless of the stature of the perpetrators, will not go unpunished.