Tran Quy Thanh is the founder of Tan Hiep Phat Group headquartered in Thuan An City in Binh Duong province. The enterprises was once No 1 in beverages in Vietnam.

Established in 1994, Tan Hiep Phat was among the largest and richest private companies.

The profits reported by the family-run company sometimes even exceeded foreign giants such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola. The profitability rate of the company was also very high.

In 2019, the owner of Tan Hiep Phat, who was super wealthy, revealed a plan to seek $3 billion for his ambition to conquer the No1 position in Southeast Asia in the beverage industry. Sources said that he once refused a deal worth $2.5 billion.

According to Bloomberg, Thanh said he was seeking a strategic partner who could invest $3 billion in the company and help turn Tan Hiep Phat into a Vietnamese ‘Red Bull’.

At that time, Tan Hiep Phat expected to increase its revenue by twofold to $1 billion within five years and its value may reach $5 billion. The plan was implemented while Tan Hiep Phat poured $500 million into three factories and planned another $500 million investment for the next development stage.

Prior to that, according to Forbes, in 2012, Tan Hiep Phat refused the invitation for cooperation, a deal with the value of $2.5 billion offered by Coca-Cola. The reason was the difference in the long-term visions of the two sides.

If Thanh had accepted the historic M&A deal, he might have been listed among Forbes’ richest billionaires on the planet, earlier than Pham Nhat Vuong.

When Thanh turned up in Forbes Books in 2018, analysts believed that Thanh would be the next Vietnamese name added to the list of billionaires.

However, Tan Hiep Phat was involved in many scandals during its operation. In 2016, a consumer said he found a fly inside a Number 1 bottle. Its revenue growth in 2014-2017 slowed down though the Number One Ha Nam factory became operational.

But later, the enterprise regained its growth in 2018 and maintained growth in 2019 when Number One Chu Lai became operational, bringing revenue of VND1.4 trillion.

The business in the beverage industry brought big money to Thanh and his family. This could be the reason why Thanh and related persons had large deposits worth up to VND6 trillion in a case related to Pham Cong Danh and Construction Bank.

Real estate firms

In the last few years, Thanh has expanded his operation into the real estate sector. Tan Hiep Phat established a debt trading company with capital of VND100 billion, which was believed to be in charge of ‘hunting’ for land.

In 2018-2019, TanHiepPhat’s owner stirred up the public when establishing 20 companies in the field of real estate with charter capital of VND20 trillion.

In 2019, just within one week, Thanh’s wife (Pham Thi Nu) and his two daughters (Tran Nguyen Phuong and Tran Ngoc Bich) established 10 real estate firms, each of which had charter capital of VND1.5 trillion.

Just a few months after the establishment, the 10 firms unexpectedly were dissolved for the same reason – there was no project to develop and it was ineffective to maintain the operation of the companies.

After joining the real estate market, Tan Hiep Phat quietly collected land. The group has real estate in many cities and provinces, but mostly in Da Nang, HCM City and Ba Ria –Vung Tau.

The crime

In April 2023, the investigation agency of the Ministry of Public Security issued a decision to prosecute Tran Quy Thanh and his two daughters for ‘abusing credit to appropriate assets’.

Thanh and his daughters were denounced for falsifying documents and appropriating businesses and individuals’ assets.

Before the arrest, there were many accusations against Thanh, including from Le Van Lam, director of Kim Oanh Dong Nai Investment and Development.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Chung denounced Tran Uyen Phuong and Nguyen Phi Long for swindling and appropriating a land plot on Ho Ngoc Lam Road in Binh Tan district.

Lam Son Hoang in Phu Nhuan district, HCM City, denounced Thanh’s daughters for appropriating assets through falsified contracts.

In addition, Tran Uyen Phuong was found evading tax, making wrong declarations in order to receive land transfer and help others avoid personal income tax during a land-use right transfer in Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Dong Nai and HCM City.

Hanh Nguyen