A “bikini airline” tycoon who was once courted by an Oxford college for donations has been hit with a multi-million pound bill after losing a High Court case.
The actions of Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao’s company, VietJet, were branded “egregious” by a High Court judge after it failed to produce four planes that defaulted on lease payments.
Last month, the High Court in London ruled against VietJet – known as the “bikini airline” after advertisements featuring shirtless flight attendants – with judges finding that the company was in breach of contract.
The company leased four planes but is in arrears due to failure to make several lease payments due in 2021.
VietJet “undertakes and organizes a campaign” to try to get the leased aircraft back to its owner, according to the Supreme Court decision which noted that the “misconduct” committed by the company was “egregious”.
Papers filed with the High Court in December 2022 state that VietJet is being sued for £155 million plus interest earned at least £31,000 a day.
‘Cash flow problem’
Ms Thao’s company is also subject to several court orders related to the long-standing case, which carries a criminal notice stating that failure to comply could result in the company being held by the court, which could result in prison terms, confiscation of assets or fines. .
VietJet admitted it was in arrears in lease payments but blamed “cash flow problems” on the pandemic and Vietnam’s national lockdown, which meant it had to suspend operations, according to its defense.
However, he denied breaching the lease agreement, and denied that the debt was “whatever relief he claimed”.
Ms Thao previously hit the headlines when, in 2021, Linacre College announced that in exchange for a £155 million “landmark gift” from the Sovico Group, it would change its name to Thao College.
The group is the parent company of VietJet, which Ms Thao launched in 2007 as Vietnam’s first private low-cost airline.
A decade later, she took the company public and in doing so became the only female billionaire in Southeast Asia.
Ms Thao is currently the general director of VietJet and chairman of Sovico Holdings, which invests in several real estate and energy projects.
A further High Court hearing will be held early next year to determine the amount VietJet will be ordered to pay FW Aviation (Holdings) 1 Limited, with the amount claimed to run into several million pounds.
In November 2021, Linacre College announced that Ms Thao had pledged through her company to donate £155 million to the college.
The original memorandum of understanding, inked in front of the Vietnamese prime minister, coincided with a push by the Vietnamese government to attract more foreign direct investment.
In Oxford, the agreement was heralded as the start of a new era of “financial security” for one of its poorer colleges.
But the announcement sparked a backlash against a proposed rebranding of the college, named after 15th-century Renaissance scholar Thomas Linacre.
Questions have been raised about why Ms Thao wanted to take millions from Vietnam, which is a poorer country than Britain.
Pham Quy Tho, former dean of public policy at the Academy of Policy and Development, told Nikkei Asia: “Vietnam is poor. We need money.”
He said “no one knows where” the money went.
In October 2022, The Telegraph announced that the first tranche of £50 million had failed to materialise, raising doubts that the deal would go ahead.
Last September, the principal of Linacre College confirmed that plans to change the College’s name had been scrapped but said there would be a “long-term collaboration” with Ms Thao that would include funding scholarships and bursaries for Vietnamese students at Oxford.
Another aspect of the partnership will involve researchers and DPhil students coming from Oxford University’s Clinical Research Unit based in Ho Chi Minh City, the principal said. No updates since.
Linacre College and Oxford University declined to comment. Ms Thao and Sovico Group did not respond to requests for comment.
