Hanoi Police outline citizens' rights to buy gold with appointment slips in the Bao Tin Minh Chau case

At a press briefing on the afternoon of April 6, Lieutenant Colonel Chu An Thanh, head of the Police Department for Investigating Economic, Corruption and Smuggling Crimes (PC03) and Deputy Head of the Hanoi Police Investigation Office, provided information on the Bảo Tín Minh Châu case, including the practice of purchasing gold using appointment slips.

Police view on “gold purchases with appointment slips”

Lieutenant Colonel Chu An Thanh said that, based on the investigation so far, buying gold with appointment slips is a civil transaction between citizens and the business. He stated that police have seized numerous ledgers and related documents during the investigation and that the company did sell gold to customers using appointment slips.

He added that the Bảo Tín Minh Châu stores are currently operating normally and that authorities are facilitating normal business operations to protect people’s interests. As of the briefing, there have been no citizen complaints filed with the investigation agency regarding the purchase of gold with appointment slips.

According to the police, if in the future the company is unable to repay, citizens may file requests, complaints, or reports to the police, and authorities will investigate and clarify.

Company background and changes in legal representative

Initial investigations indicate that Bảo Tín Minh Châu Co., Ltd. is involved in gold production, trading, and jewelry. Mr. Vũ Minh Châu is identified as CEO and legal representative. From October 28, 2024 to present, the company changed its legal representative from Mr. Vũ Minh Châu to Ms. Phạm Lan Anh, who is described as cohabiting with Mr. Châu as spouses.

Accounting management and data deletion allegations

During the investigation, Hanoi Police initially determined that before 2024, Mr. Vũ Minh Châu and his son, Mr. Vũ Minh Tú, directed staff to use two accounting software systems—Hivi Gold and Hivi Gold Pro—and Excel to manage and declare taxes.

From late 2024 to the present, to avoid scrutiny, the police said they directed the deletion of data in Hivi Gold and Hivi Gold Pro and switched to using Excel along with Fox AI for inventory management. The police stated that data was filtered, checked, and consolidated by the accounting department before being uploaded to Misa for tax declarations.

Preliminary financial findings

Based on data extracted from the company’s Hivi system covering 2020–2023, police preliminarily identify the company’s real revenue at about 13.7 trillion VND. The police also cited a tax-report discrepancy of about 9.7 trillion VND, which they estimate resulted in a loss to the state budget of about 150 billion VND.

Evidence recovered in searches

During searches of the company’s premises and related individuals, investigators recovered:

• 23.3 billion VND in cash
• seven land-use certificates
• numerous documents and items
• a large quantity of gold and silver

Charges and expansion of investigation

The Hanoi Police Investigation Agency has indicted the case and charged Mr. Vũ Minh Châu, former CEO of Bảo Tín Minh Châu, and his son Vũ Minh Tú (Head of Independent Assistant), along with two company accountants, with the offense of Violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences.

The investigation is being expanded to clarify additional violations and to pursue strict enforcement under the law.

Source: Nguyễn Hưởng, Người Lao Động