The 49-year-old was detained on Friday by HCMC police for abusing trust to appropriate assets.
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Actress Truong Ngoc Anh (middle) seen at a police station in HCMC. Photo courtesy of HCMC police |
Dragon Real Property was established in 2007 and managed by Anh. She invited an Irish investor identified as Pham to contribute $9.1 million to develop two property projects in HCMC. Pham had transferred almost $4.5 million.
One of the projects, named Indochine in the former District 3, was supposed to be owned by Dragon Real Property with a value of 12,917 taels (485 kilograms) of gold, according to a land sale contract signed in 2008.
But investigators have found that before the signing, Anh and another individual, identified as Nguyen, had signed another contract to personally purchase the land for the project from four households at 7,197 taels, 44% lower than what the company was supposed to pay.
Investigators determined that Anh paid the four households 3,000 taels but recorded in the company’s books an expenditure of 4,458 taels, violating the investment agreement, showing signs of fraud and inflating the project value to misappropriate the difference.
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Truong Ngoc Anh questioned by the police. Photo courtesy of HCMC police |
Investigators also found that Anh also abused her authority to arbitrarily withdraw money from the company account, direct the creation of false journal entries, and distort financial reports to conceal the misappropriation.
Anh is famous for films such as “Dong Tien Xuong Mau” (Blood and Money) and “Ao Lua Ha Dong” (Hanoi Silk Dress). She entered the film industry at the age of 16, and later won Miss New Model International 1998.
In more than 30 years, she has participated in many projects as model, actress and singer. She served as a judge at several international film festivals and was named “Outstanding Asian Actress” at the Seoul International Drama Awards. She also held the role of chairwoman of Miss Earth Vietnam 2023.
Anh in April this year revealed to the public that she had “collapsed” due to personal and financial scandals, claiming that a partner owed her company VND24 billion (US$912,000) and she was being sued for more than VND324 million.
She had to sell assets and withdrew from social media to gradually regain her spirit. “Many people think that I am rich and acquainted with tycoons, but I believe in standing on my own two feet,” Anh said earlier.
