16 years in prison for "hui boss" who embezzled money to "treat" relatives
(Baonghean.vn) - Trusting the reputation of her neighbor Tran Thi Oanh, many households contributed hundreds of millions of dong to join the hui. When Ms. Oanh announced that the hui had collapsed and could not pay, many households were shocked and fell into a difficult situation when the total amount of money Ms. Oanh had taken was up to several billion dong.
On April 9-10, 2019, Nghe An Provincial People's Court held a first-instance trial of defendant Tran Thi Oanh (born in 1970, residing in Hamlet 5, Thanh My Commune, Thanh Chuong) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
The trial lasted for two days, not because the defendant was tried for many crimes, but because the number of victims in this case reached nearly 90 people. All the victims in the courtroom were neighbors, people who believed that Ms. Oanh was like a “relative” in the family.
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| "Hui boss" Tran Thi Oanh at the first instance trial. Photo: An Quynh |
According to the indictment, Ms. Oanh’s trick was to use the name “phuong troi” to make people think that this was a form of a guild or hui. At the same time, she often used the trick of paying high interest and appeared to be quite fair. Many people, after their turn to pick up the guild, did not take it back but continued to leave it with the guild owner, only receiving the interest. Therefore, when Ms. Oanh declared bankruptcy, many people lost all the money they paid to the guild.
Among the nearly 90 victims, there are many difficult situations. For example, the family of Ms. Ha Thi H. (living in Thanh My commune) is a poor household in the commune. Tran Thi Oanh knew that Ms. H. had 15 million VND, the amount of money she had saved for 2 years, so Oanh persuaded her to contribute capital to get monthly interest for spending. Thinking that Oanh was a villager, Ms. H. trusted her with all the money. After only 4 months of interest, Ms. Oanh declared bankruptcy. Ms. H. burst into tears when she thought of losing all her savings.
With the same trick, knowing that Mr. Vo Van D. (born in 1993, residing in Thanh My commune) had some money saved up to prepare for business, with the intention of appropriating the above money, Ms. Oanh immediately thought of setting up a profitable ward with 10 shares, each share worth 5 million, if there was a deposit, the interest would be very high. Trusting what Oanh said, Mr. D. did not hesitate to pay 10 shares for 50 million VND. The first time, Oanh paid D. 6.2 million VND and said this was the initial interest.
Nearly a month later, Oanh continued to pretend to reveal that there were 2 wards, each ward had 10 portions, each portion was 5 million. Because he trusted her the first time, Mr. D. gave the remaining 100 million VND he had saved to Oanh to participate. This time, Oanh paid Mr. D 12 million VND in interest. Thus, minus the amount already paid, the total amount Oanh had appropriated from Mr. D was 132 million VND.
From February 3, 2016 to July 2017, she defrauded 84 people and appropriated more than 3.8 billion VND. Oanh spent that money on personal expenses and medical treatment for her husband and son who were seriously ill.
The trial panel determined: The behavior of the defendant Tran Thi Oanh is extremely dangerous to society, committing the crime of “Fraudulent appropriation of property”. Based on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the court decided to sentence the defendant Tran Thi Oanh to 16 years in prison and ordered her to compensate the victims more than 3.8 billion VND.
