According to Notice No. 1002/TB-TTNH4 issued on May 30, 2025, the inspection will be conducted according to Decision No. 324/QD-TTGSNH2 dated May 17, 2024 of the Chief Inspector and Bank Supervisor. On May 23, 2025, the Chief Inspector of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) signed and issued Inspection Conclusion No. 24/KL-TTNH4, clarifying the current status of compliance with legal regulations in gold trading activities, money laundering prevention and control and tax accounting regime at Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company (PNJ).
A series of violations have face points
The conclusion shows that PNJ company basically complies with legal regulations in gold bar trading, implements the gold purchase and sale data reporting regime, lists purchase and sale prices according to regulations and has had positive changes in money laundering prevention and control. However, besides the achievements, this enterprise still has many notable violations and shortcomings.
According to the conclusion, PNJ violated the reporting regime in the trading of gold bars, showing signs of providing confusing information about products and goods to attract customers of other businesses - behavior related to unfair competition. In addition, the company also showed signs of violating regulations on product labeling for gold jewelry and cosmetics. The verification results also showed signs of tax law violations, and the SBV had issued a document transferring information to the competent authority for consideration and handling according to regulations.
In the field of money laundering prevention and control, PNJ violated many regulations such as: issuing incomplete internal regulations; not classifying customers according to risk levels; reporting inadequate content according to regulations; not reporting on transactions of high value related to gold business activities; not conducting internal audits on money laundering prevention and control; not having regulations on account freezes, asset detention and many other shortcomings in recognizing, updating customer information as well as identifying beneficial owners.
Regarding accounting, invoices, documents and tax obligations, PNJ was determined to have made invoices at the wrong time, some transactions lacked information or may not be the real CMND/CCCD number of the customer on List 01/TNDN.
Transfer information with signs of violating criminal law to the Ministry of Public Security
Immediately after the direct inspection was completed, the SBV transferred information related to signs of criminal law violations in the use of invoices, accounting documents and taxes at PNJ to the Ministry of Public Security for verification, investigation and handling according to regulations.
At the same time, the Chief Inspector of the State Bank of Vietnam also issued a Decision to administratively sanction PNJ with a total amount of 1.34 billion VND. The acts of being punished include violating regulations on the information regime on reporting the purchase and sale of gold bars and activities to prevent and combat money laundering.
The State Bank Inspectorate requested PNJ to rectify the non-serious compliance with legal regulations in gold trading activities, immediately stop administrative violations, strictly implement the reporting information regime, overcome and correct violations in money laundering prevention and control as well as tax obligations.
The inspection conclusion also clearly stated that the cause of the violations stemmed from the fact that the legal representative, leaders and employees of PNJ did not strictly comply with legal regulations in the inspected areas.
