Former chairman of Southern Bank and Vice Chairman of Sacombank Tram Be has been arrested in a case that caused USD400m to go missing from the banking system.

Be was accused of helping Pham Cong Danh, VNCB’s former Chairman steal VND1.8trn (USD79.2m) from Vietnam Construction Bank. Danh and other accomplices were found to have withdrawn money from customer accounts as security to take loans from other banks or outright stole it.

Last September, Danh was sentenced to 30 years in jail while his accomplices received sentences between three years’ probation and 22 years in jail.

Be was considered a talented businessman who could read changes in the market. He started in the wood industry and became successful in various fields including hospitals, real estate, finance and banking.

In 1999, sensing huge opportunities in the real estate, Be decided to make investments in Binh Chanh Construction Investment JSC. For years later, his company owned huge plots of lands and mega projects in the south. In 2009, he bought a part of Vallco Shopping Mall in the US state of California for USD64m. In 2014, he sold it to Sand Hill Property Co. and made profits of USD16m.

This was one of the biggest retail acquisition and merger cases in the Silicon Valley when the mall finally under single ownership after decades.

Be is also famous for showing off his wealth. He caused a huge buzz when building the largest villa in the south in Ham Giang Commune, Tra Vinh Province.

It covers 30 hectares and featured many precious old ornamental trees that cost billions of VND.The villa's chandelier is 10 metres wide and was ordered from the Europe. There are many valuable items in the villa such as a mammoth skeleton and the Laughing Buddha wood statue.

Be also donated hundreds of billions of VND to build pagodas in Tra Vinh Province.

Some photos of Tram Be's large villa in Tra Vinh Province:

Dtinews