Notably, Phu was the one who came forward, accusing Thuy of orchestrating a scheme to falsify revenues by bribing Tong Thi Kim Lien, director of Nhat Tran Company. According to investigators, Phu’s report was instrumental in exposing the bribery and the fraudulent practices involved. As a result, prosecutors have been advised to consider leniency when sentencing him.

Phu testified that in mid-2016, Thuy expressed a desire to enhance Egroup’s image by inflating its business activity and revenue. The goal: to attract investors and facilitate capital raising.

Through personal connections, Thuy arranged a meeting with Lien, who ran a high-revenue telecom card business in Ho Chi Minh City. The proposal was for Lien’s company to simulate large-scale phone card purchases to fake Egroup’s income.

Phu was present at the meeting where Lien agreed - under one condition: she would receive a “service fee” amounting to 2% of the fabricated annual revenue. This payment would be off the books, and Egroup would also cover any additional costs.

From 2016 to 2021, the fraudulent telecom card sales reportedly amounted to over USD 94 million (approx. 2.327 trillion VND), representing around 70% of the company’s reported revenue during those years.

Each time a fictitious contract was settled, Thuy allegedly paid Lien over USD 1.87 million (46 billion VND) in service fees. At the investigation agency, Thuy admitted he manipulated financial statements to give the impression that Egroup had high revenues, which in turn attracted investors.

Lien told investigators that although Nhat Tran Company changed legal representatives and founding shareholders multiple times since its inception in January 2014, she was always the true operator and financial backer.

The registered shareholders and company directors were merely figureheads. To maintain legal legitimacy and operational ease, Lien appointed her younger brother, Tong Xuan Thanh, as the company’s general director and had him issue the appointment of a co-defendant as the executive director.

Besides Nhat Tran, Lien also founded Mobilenet Security JSC and Phu Le Huy Co. Ltd. In 2016, through personal connections, Thuy and Phu met with Lien again, requesting that Nhat Tran help “run cash flows” and inflate Egroup’s reported revenues by hundreds of billions of dong annually.

According to Thanh - general director of Nhat Tran - all transactions, contracts, payments, and invoicing were carried out as part of routine business and under the direct orders of his sister, Lien.

Thanh stated that he was unaware of the service fee arrangement between Lien and Thuy, and that he personally received no material benefits from the scheme.

T. Nhung