APAX Leaders English center chairman indicted for bribery
Friday, December 06, 2024, 12:19 GMT+7
Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, also known as Shark Thuy, board chairman and general director of Egroup Education Group JSC and Egame Investment and Distribution JSC, has been charged with bribery in connection with a case involving the two firms.
Thuy is also board chairman of Egroup’s Apax Holdings JSC, the owner of the controversial APAX Leaders English language center chain.
The Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday that its investigators are conducting a probe into an asset misappropriation fraud case at Egroup and Egame.
During an expansion of the probe, police gathered enough evidence to charge Thuy with giving bribes.
Tong Thi Kim Lien, chairwoman and CEO of Nhat Tran Company, faced the same fate for allegedly receiving bribes.
Two others charged with appropriating assets include Pham Thi Thanh Tho, head accountant at Egroup, and Nguyen Thi Hoai Thuong, accountant at Egame.
Police also initiated legal proceedings against Nguyen Manh Phu, financial director at Egroup, for allegedly giving bribes and asset appropriation.
In March, Thuy was arrested for his alleged involvement in asset misappropriation.
In August, the Ministry of Public Security issued an announcement to look for victims of the asset misappropriation fraud case at Egroup and Egame.
The investigation found that Thuy and his accomplices had called for capital by selling non-existent shares of Egroup from 2015 to 2023.
Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, also known as Shark Thuy, has been additionally charged with giving bribes.
In a separate case, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training transferred documents on Apax Leaders’ failure to refund tuition fees to parents to the municipal police for further investigation.
Dozens of parents had earlier complained that the chain had accepted tuition fees for long-term courses before closing many of its centers or switching to online courses.
Parents in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, and Dak Lak Province in the Central Highlands said that the centers also failed to provide high-quality educational services as promised.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, the Apax Leaders English language center system’s unpaid tuition refunds to parents in Ho Chi Minh City total around VND93.8 billion (US$3.7 million).
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
