14 years in prison for female teacher who swindled and appropriated more than 2 billion VND
(Baonghean.vn) - On July 10, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Vi Thi Hoa (born 1972), former teacher at Dinh Son Secondary School, residing in Cay Chanh village, Dinh Son commune, Anh Son district, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
According to the indictment, due to losses in multi-level marketing and purchasing, from 2012 to June 2017, Vi Thi Hoa introduced herself as an acquaintance of the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ky Son district, the wife of the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province, the Chief of Office of the People's Committee of Nghe An province and the Director of the Department of Home Affairs of Nghe An to trick people into applying for jobs.
Using sweet words, Hoa "bragged" that she had connections with leaders and that her relatives of district and provincial leaders could help her get jobs teaching and working as a medical doctor at schools in the area.
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| Defendant Vi Thi Hoa at the trial. Photo: Nguyen Duong |
With the above acts, Hoa appropriated nearly 2.1 billion VND from 14 victims. Of which, Hoa appropriated 163 million VND from Ms. Vi Thi Lien (residing in Luc Da commune, Con Cuong), 100 million VND from Mr. Ngo Duc Ha (residing in Quynh Lap commune, Hoang Mai town), 170 million VND from Mr. Nguyen Van The (residing in Quynh Lap commune, Hoang Mai town), 30 million VND, Ms. Vi Thi Tam (both residing in Luc Da commune, Con Cuong district) 60 million VND, Mr. Truong Tat Thanh (residing in Nghia Xuan commune, Quy Hop district) 160 million VND, Mr. Luong Van May and Mr. Lo Thanh Vuong (residing in Ngoc Lam commune, Thanh Chuong district) 160 million VND, Mr. Luong Xuan Thuy (residing in Ngoc Lam commune, Thanh Chuong district) 180 million VND...
In particular, Hoa also "bragged" that she knew someone outside the Ministry of Public Security who could apply to be on the payroll of the industry to defraud Mr. Tran Kim An (residing in Phong Thinh commune, Thanh Chuong district) of 350 million VND.
After appropriating the money, Hoa used it to pay off previous debts from multi-level marketing and for personal expenses, then threw the victims' job applications into the Lam River to destroy them.
Discovering the incident, the people reported it to the Anh Son District Police, and Vi Thi Hoa was later arrested while preparing to flee the area. On September 22, 2017, the Anh Son District Police initiated a criminal case, prosecuted Hoa, and banned her from leaving her place of residence. However, on September 26, 2017, Hoa was planning to prepare clothes, personal belongings, and money to flee, so the authorities issued an order to temporarily detain her to assist in the investigation. After the incident, Hoa paid back a portion of the victim, totaling more than VND500 million.
The panel of judges determined that Vi Thi Hoa’s actions were dangerous to society and needed to be strictly punished by law. However, based on mitigating circumstances such as the defendant’s honest confession, her family’s contributions to the revolution, her young children, and her lack of criminal records, the panel sentenced Vi Thi Hoa to 14 years in prison for “fraudulent appropriation of property”. In civil matters, the panel of judges ordered Vi Thi Hoa to compensate the remaining 1.5 billion VND to the victims.
