A “bikini airline” tycoon once courted by an Oxford college for donations is in line for a multi-million pound bill after losing a High Court case.
The conduct of Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao’s firm, VietJet, was branded “egregious” by a High Court judge after it failed to return four aircrafts it had failed to pay rent on.
Last month, the High Court in London ruled against VietJet – known as the “bikini airline” after its adverts featuring scantily-clad flight attendants – with the judge finding that the company was in breach of its contract.
The firm had leased four planes but fell into arrears following its failure to make a series of rental payments in 2021.
VietJet “conducted and orchestrated a campaign” in an attempt to avoid handing the leased aircrafts back to their owners, according to the High Court judgment that noted that the “misconduct” employed by the company was “egregious”.
Papers lodged with the High Court in December 2022 revealed that VietJet was being sued for £155 million plus interest accruing at a rate of at least £31,000 a day.
‘Cash flow problems’
Ms Thao’s company is also subject to several court orders in connection with the long-running case, which carry penal notices stating that failure to comply may result in the company being held in contempt of court, which could result in imprisonment, asset seizures or fines.
VietJet admitted that it fell into arrears with rental payments but blamed this on “cash flow problems” owing to the pandemic and Vietnam’s national lockdown, which meant it had to suspend operations, according to its defence.
However, it has denied that it was in breach of the lease agreement, and denied that it owed “any of the relief claimed”.
Ms Thao previously made headlines when, in 2021, Linacre College announced that in exchange for a “landmark gift” of £155 million from 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 the first privately run low-cost airline in Vietnam.
A decade later, she took the company public and in doing so became south-east Asia’s only female billionaire.
Ms Thao is now the general director of VietJet and chairman of Sovico Holdings, which invests in a number of real estate and energy projects.
A further High Court hearing is due to take place early next year to determine the amount the VietJet will be ordered to pay FW Aviation (Holdings) 1 Limited, with the sums claimed running to several millions of pounds.
In November 2021, Linacre College declared that Ms Thao had pledged via her company to donate £155 million to the college.
The original memorandum of understanding, inked in front of Vietnam’s 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 the university’s poorer colleges.
But the announcement caused a backlash against the proposed rebranding of the college, which is named after the 15th century renaissance scholar Thomas Linacre.
Questions were raised about why Ms Thao wanted to take millions out of Vietnam, which is a poorer country than the UK.
Pham Quy Tho, a former dean of public policy at the Academy of Policy and Development, told Nikkei Asia: “Vietnam is poor. We need money.”
He said that “nobody could understand where” the money was going.
In October 2022, The Telegraph revealed that the first tranche of £50 million failed to materialise, leading to doubts over whether the deal would go ahead.
Last September, Linacre College’s principal confirmed that plans to rename the College had been dropped but said there will be a “long-term collaboration” with Ms Thao which will include funding scholarships and fellowships for Vietnamese students at Oxford.
Another aspect of the partnership will involve research fellows and DPhil students coming over from the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit based in Ho Chi Minh City, the principal said. There have been no further updates since.
Linacre College and Oxford University declined to comment. Ms Thao and Sovico Group did not respond to requests for comment.