The 10kg ruby

The scandal related to the recently failed charity auction in HCM City, which had the participation of Miss Earth contestants, becomes more complicated when the organizer said that the seller of the event copyright didn’t show the licence yet.

Dinh Gia Dien, chairman of the HCM City-based Gia Gia Gemstone JS Company, the sponsor and organizer of the disreputable charity auction, said that his firm bought the copyright of the event from the Thanh Nien Media Corporation for VND2 billion ($100,000).

According to Dien, under the contract, Thanh Nien Media Corporation was responsible for getting the licences to organize andadvertise the event and to invite high-ranking officials. However, even when the event was held, the corporation didn’t show the licences and the event didn’t have the participation of any high-ranking official. The licence was faxed to Gia Gia Gemstone JS Company only after the event.

This charity auction ended up in a scandal when it turned out that the people who won the biddings didn’t pay for the items they promised to buy at very high prices, from which the proceesdings were to go to flood victims in the central region.

Dien explained that his firm was not related to the charity auction. “We paid VND4.1 billion ($200,000) to organize this event and expected to break even from tickets sale and other sources. The charity money from businessmen and the income from the charity auction was entirely managed by the HCM City Red Cross. We didn’t have any relation with it”.

Nguyen Cong Khe, Chairman cum General Director of the Thanh Nien Media Corporation, said that the auction of some items at the event was not included in the contract signed between his company and the Gia Gia Gemstone JS Company.

He confirmed that under the contract, only gifts of Miss Earth contestants were allowed to be auctioned.

Khe also said that Gia Gia changed the event script iwithout his knowledge. He confirmed that his company got the licence for the event, with the old script.

According to Khe, Gia Gia had to pay copyright fees immediately but it didn’t. Thanh Nien Media Corporation was about to annul the contract when the HCM City Red Cross joined the event. Gia Gia finally paid VND600 million dong.

About the prices of items for auction, Gia Gia’s chairman said his company only auctioned a gemstone painting and the 10kg ruby. The starting price for the gemstone painting was VND90 million, same as the selling price listed at the company’s showroom. Gia Gia was only the representative for the 10kg ruby so the starting price was set by the owner. Dien said that this is a big and beautiful ruby so its starting price was worthy of $200,000.

The starting prices for the two remaining items – the set of four spiritual creatures and the bronze drum – were also set by the owners.

Nguyen Trung Thanh, chairman of the Hanoi-based ASEAN C&C Media JS Company, said his company only played the role of the brand representative for the set of four spiritual creatures, not the legal representative. However, Thanh’s firm intentionally pushed up the starting price from $1 million to $2 million.

Thanh said the original price of the items is $1 million but his company raised it to $2 million to “collect more money to flood victims”.

Thanh told Tuoi Tre Newspaper that his company paid nearly VND1 billion for the auction so if the auction was successful, his company would ask  the organizing board for some money from the auction to cover its spending.

Nguyen Thi Hue city, Chairwoman of the HCM City Red Cross, said that the Bao Long Ceramic Company, which won the auction for the set of four spiritual creatures worth VND47 billion ($2.3 million) but didn’t buy the items, signed a memorandum of understanding to donate VND1 billion ($50,000) to flood victims but by November 29 the firm didn’t transfer the money to the HCM City Red Cross.

Hue said that the starting prices for the items that were auctioned in HCM City were set by the item owners, not to be appraised by any expert.

At the auction, the starting price for the 10kg ruby was VND4 billion ($200,000), VND90 million ($4500) for a gemstone painting, VND40 billion ($2 million) for the set of four spiritual creatures and VND6 billion ($300,000) for a bronze drum).

Hue said the HCM City Red Cross only signed an agreement with the owner of the bronze drum, under which the association would give back $300,000 to the owner. The remaining income will be donated to flood victims.

PV