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On May 1, the Economic Police Department of Ho Chi Minh City Police uncovered and dismantled a professional group involved in illegal invoicing and document trading, comprising 12 individuals led by Le Van Hien (born 1984, residing in Tan Son Nhi Ward, Ho Chi Minh City).
During wiretapping and the deployment of professional measures, the Economic Police Department found that Thai Hung Company (address in Hoa Hung Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) showed signs of violations: it issued invoices with large sales figures, while its value-added tax (VAT) declaration did not match, with declared amounts lower than the invoiced sales, indicating concealed revenue.
By continuing to review invoices issued to Thai Hung by other companies, investigators detected irregularities in those companies’ VAT declarations and invoice use. The Economic Police Department suspected these entities may have been part of the same ecosystem—created by the professional group—to illegally issue invoices and documents.
The Economic Police Department established a specialized case to combat the act of “printing, issuing, buying, selling illegally issued invoices and documents submitted to the state budget.” During the investigation, it coordinated with other authorities and applied professional measures to clarify the entire group, including 12 subjects led by Le Van Hien.
On April 27, 2026, the Economic Police Department decided to prosecute the case and charge Le Van Hien and 11 co-accused with the offense of “issuing, buying, selling illegally issued invoices.”
House searches yielded 207 USB tokens used to review and sign electronic VAT invoices, along with 2 CPU recorders, 1 laptop, and numerous related documents.
According to the investigation, from 2022 to 2025, Le Van Hien and related individuals used 35 phantom entities of fake companies to issue and trade 16,700 VAT invoices. The invoices allegedly recorded pretax value of 2,814 billion VND and VAT of 356 billion VND, totaling 3,171 billion VND.
Further investigations showed that Hien also admitted using an additional 326 phantom entities. Investigators stated that 28 bank accounts were used to circulate funds, legitimizing the illicit invoice trading with amounts exceeding 3,800 billion VND.
The Economic Police Department of Ho Chi Minh City said it is continuing to pursue the case vigorously, expanding investigations to clarify offenses of all involved. It will also investigate and clarify individuals and organizations that bought and used invoices and documents from the group to commit other crimes such as embezzlement, money laundering, tax evasion, and accounting violations causing serious consequences.
At the same time, investigators will clarify the responsibility of state agencies in licensing and supervising the business activities of the enterprises involved.
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