Shark Thuy, APAX Leaders English center chairman, detained in fraud case

Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, board chairman and general director of Egroup and Egame Investment and Distribution JSC, has been arrested for his alleged involvement in asset misappropriation fraud.

Thuy, alias Shark Thuy, is also board chairman of Egroup’s Apax Holdings JSC, the owner of the APAX Leaders English language center chain.

Dang Van Hien, head of Egame’s investor relations department, was also detained on the same charge. 

Investigators of the Ministry of Public Security made the arrests on Monday evening, Lieutenant General To An Xo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Security, announced on Tuesday.

Shark Thuy previously made his name on the investment reality show Shark Tank Vietnam.

Last year, many people accused Shark Thuy of misappropriating trillions of Vietnamese dong.

Lots of parents complained that the chain received tuition fees for long-term courses but then a host of APAX Leaders centers were closed without advanced notice or switched to online courses.

Many parents in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang City, and Dak Lak Province in the Central Highlands said that the centers also failed to provide educational services of good quality as they previously guaranteed, so the parents demanded tuition refunds.

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$3.8 million).

The chain, in a report sent to the department on February 26, proposed extending the closure of two centers until June this year, offering online classes to students of these two centers, shutting down 26 venues, and relocating 13 others.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!