Life imprisonment for a wealthy woman from a mountainous region who defrauded over 400 people.
(Baonghean.vn) - After raising over 20 billion VND in deposits from hundreds of people with high interest rates, Thao announced the dissolution of the company but did not post the announcement to inform the public and continued to raise capital from people until she was arrested.
The People's Court of Nghe An province recently held a first-instance criminal trial to hear the case against defendant Nguyen Thi Thao (born in 1959, residing in Con Cuong town, Nghe An province) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". The panel of judges spent four days clarifying the criminal acts of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao.
According to the indictment, in 1994, Hung Thao Private Enterprise was established, owned by Mr. Nguyen Phi Hung (born in 1956, residing in Con Cuong town, Con Cuong district, Nghe An province). This enterprise had amended its business license for the third time, with the business activities including buying and selling gold, silver, jewelry, and handicrafts; and buying and selling various types of motorcycles.
Although she had no authority to raise capital and was not the owner of this business, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao (born in 1959, Mr. Hung's wife) issued deposit slips, using the seal of Hung Thao Private Enterprise on the slips, leading people to mistakenly deposit money with her.
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| Defendant Nguyen Thi Thao at the trial. Photo: NB |
Ms. Thao's illegal deposit mobilization activities (including cash, foreign currency, and gold) took place from 2009 to October 2015. After receiving a large amount of deposits from the public but being unable to repay the debt, Ms. Thao instructed the company's accountant to draft a decision to dissolve the business and announce the dissolution, citing business losses and inability to pay employees, business partners, and other expenses.
Ms. Thao submitted the business dissolution procedures to the Con Cuong District Tax Office but failed to notify and post the decision and notice of business dissolution at the local government and the business's headquarters as required, and also failed to inform the people who had sent money.
Despite the decision and announcement to dissolve the business, from October 23, 2015, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao continued to raise capital and accept deposits from the public. On May 9, 2016, Ms. Thao was arrested by the Nghe An Provincial Police for gambling (later sentenced to 7 months imprisonment, suspended by the Con Cuong District People's Court). Only then did the people learn that Hung Thao Private Enterprise had been dissolved and was unable to repay its debts.
On December 23, 2016, Nguyen Thi Thao was arrested by the Nghe An Provincial Police to investigate her alleged fraudulent appropriation of property.
The investigating agency clarified that, within just 7 months, Nguyen Thi Thao defrauded 383 people, appropriating 24.8 billion VND. Nguyen Thi Thao's victims were mainly from Con Cuong (214 people), Anh Son, and Do Luong, with the smallest amount being 6 million VND and the largest exceeding half a billion VND.
Defendant Thao has repaid over 2.3 billion VND in principal and 868 million VND in interest to the people. Therefore, Nguyen Thi Thao must be held responsible for the 22.7 billion VND she embezzled.
After a comprehensive review of the case, the Judges' Panel of the Nghe An Provincial People's Court sentenced Nguyen Thi Thao to life imprisonment for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property," and ordered the defendant to return all the stolen money to the victims.
