Hanoi prosecutors charged seven people in a case involving illegal cross-border currency transfers. Investigators say they used import and export documents to send more than VND923 billion abroad.
According to the indictment, the defendants are Nguyễn Mạnh Linh, Lê Đăng Khoa, Đinh Thị Lịch, Meng Jun, Lê Thanh Phương, Trần Thanh Tùng and Yang Jing. They are charged with illegally transporting currency across the border.
The defendants held management or accounting positions at Viet Linh, Phong Lâm, Vinaecom and Newmone Vietnam. Authorities say the group used Viet Linh and Phong Lâm to transfer more than US$40.2 million abroad and more than US$11.7 million into Vietnam.
Import and export documents used to transfer money
The indictment says Nguyễn Mạnh Linh met Chinese citizen Zheng Yan Fei, also known as Phi, in 2019. From 2021, Zheng Yan Fei found customers seeking transfers, agreed fees and instructed Linh to prepare import and export documents, mainly for transfers between Vietnam and China.
The group used temporary-import and re-export contracts with foreign partners. The goods were mainly small electronic components and resistor chips, whose value was difficult to assess. Contracts did not fully specify brands, technical standards, specifications or quality certificates.
Money entering Vietnam went to Viet Linh's account under export contracts. Linh withdrew it and placed it in personal savings accounts as security for letters of credit. Customers sending money out transferred it to Linh's personal account, after which it was deposited into the company account for import payments.
Through Viet Linh, the group transferred more than US$35.5 million abroad and received more than US$11 million from abroad. From February to August 2021, Đinh Thị Lịch made 16 withdrawals totaling more than VND96.9 billion and seven deposits totaling more than VND36.4 billion into Linh's personal account.
The indictment says Linh benefited by about VND300 million, Khoa by about VND40 million, while Lịch received VND5 million a month for accounting work. In early 2022, Linh continued similar activity through Phong Lâm. Meng Jun received money in personal accounts and deposited it into Phong Lâm. More than VND67.3 billion entered his account from May 13 to June 13, 2022, and he signed 11 overseas-transfer contracts.
Illegal transfers through Phong Lâm totaled US$4.73 million abroad and US$699,945 into Vietnam. Lê Thanh Phương signed 120 international payment orders totaling more than US$30.4 million. The indictment says she did not know the documents' contents and did not benefit.
More than VND63 billion transferred as payment for 'construction trees'
Investigators examined transactions involving Trần Thanh Tùng and Yang Jing through Linh's account. Tùng, director of Vinaecom, had a logistics contract with China's AEG Express Limited. AEG asked him to transfer money to Linh with the description 'CHUYEN TIEN DAT CAY CONG TRINH', meaning 'transfer for construction trees'.
Tùng said the Chinese partner supplied the description and that no construction trees were bought. Investigators determined that he sent more than VND63.8 billion to Linh to pay the Chinese side.
Yang Jing, director of Newmone Vietnam's Hanoi branch, imported cutting and grinding discs from China. He used WeChat to arrange payments and, from March to August 2021, had employees make eight transfers totaling more than VND1.42 billion to Linh.
Linh's account also received VND140 billion from accounts linked to Nguyễn Bá Nam, Vũ Phương Thảo and others. Nguyễn Bá Nam said this was payment for USDT transactions. Investigators said there may have been signs of formalizing the source of funds through cryptocurrency trading and separated the materials for further examination.
Zheng Yan Fei left Vietnam on June 11, 2025. Investigators sent a legal-assistance request to China but have not received a response. The materials concerning him were separated for further verification and consideration of legal action.
Sources: Dân Trí
