HA NOI (Biz Hub)– The Ministry of Public Securities has found the three individual believed to have started rumour that the chairman of the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) was arrested in February, causing chaos in the stock market.

The three suspects are aged between 28-37 years and are currently working in Ha Noi and HCM City. They allegedly spread the rumour through online forums.

Tran Bac Ha.—Photo vtc

The ministry's investigation has concluded that the men did not intend to destroy the financial markets, but were targeting individual gain as they were small investors in stocks.

However, their crime adversely affected the financial and currency markets. The VN-Index dropped 18 points, or 3.36 per cent, while the HNX-Index lost 3.35 points, or 5.3 per cent, after the rumour spread.

A series of shares were sold off and stock market capitalisation evaporated VND29 trillion (US$1.36 billion) in just one trading session.

Shortly after the rumour was refuted by BIDV chairman Tran Bac Ha, the stock market recovered half of its lost ground the following day, February 22.

The ministry has not yet publicly revealed further details of the case.

In August last year, the stock market was thrown into chaos after bank tycoon Nguyen Duc Kien was found guilty. After only three sessions, indices lost 4-5 per cent, and market capitalisation lost $5.6 billion.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), the institution Kien co-founded was listed on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, BIDV finished its equitisation last year and is currently one of the country's four largest banks. — VNS