They mortgaged their land title to borrow money and then… declared bankruptcy.

The Quy Hop Police Investigation Agency announced that it has issued a decision to initiate a criminal case and prosecute Kieu Hai Van (born in 1982, residing in Block 6, Quy Hop town) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

The suspect, Kieu Hai Van, was released on bail and placed under house arrest because she is raising a young child under 36 months old. Van is the wife of Nguyen Anh Tu (born in 1984, an employee at a bank branch in Quy Hop).

Suspect Kieu Hai Van. Photo: Le Phan

According to the complaint filed by Ms. Nguyen Thi Van (born in 1966, residing in Block 17, Quy Hop town): On December 7, 2016, Kieu Hai Van mortgaged land use right certificate No. X249432 to Ms. Nguyen Thi Van to borrow 300 million VND, which he used to repay debts to people he had borrowed from previously.

About 10 days later, Kieu Hai Van borrowed back the land use right certificate to mortgage it at the bank to borrow money, and then she would repay the loan between Kieu Hai Van and Mrs. Van. Mrs. Van agreed.

On January 4, 2017, Kieu Hai Van and Nguyen Anh Tu completed the procedures to transfer the land use right certificate from the original owners, Mr. Truong Quoc Bieu and Ms. Ta Thi Tien, to Nguyen Anh Tu and Kieu Hai Van, and then took it to the bank to mortgage it, but it was not approved.

Because she needed money to repay previous borrowers, on January 6, 2017, Kieu Hai Van again mortgaged the land use right certificate to Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan (Block 4, Quy Hop town) to borrow 300 million VND without mentioning that the certificate had already been mortgaged to Ms. Van.

On January 9, 2017, Hai Van went to see Ms. Lan to borrow back the land use right certificate to apply for a bank loan, promising to repay Ms. Lan after securing the loan. On January 10, 2017, Hai Van mortgaged the land use right certificate at the bank where her husband worked, borrowing 1.4 billion VND. However, she did not repay Ms. Van and Ms. Lan, but instead used the money to pay off a debt to Mr. Hoang Van Cong (residing in Block 17, Quy Hop town).

Ms. Van and Ms. Lan repeatedly requested repayment, but Kieu Hai Van declared bankruptcy and inability to pay. On January 20, 2017, Kieu Hai Van sold the land to Ms. Cao Thi Thu (in Yen Hop commune) without informing Ms. Van and Ms. Lan.

After purchasing the land, Ms. Thu settled Hai Van's loan at the bank to obtain the land use rights certificate and then proceeded with the procedures to transfer ownership of the land. To date, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan and Ms. Nguyen Thi Van have still not recovered the money they lent to Kieu Hai Van.

To date, Kieu Hai Van and Nguyen Anh Tu have shown signs of being unable to repay their debts and are trying to evade responsibility. Facing the risk of losing over 3 billion VND, Ms. Lan and Ms. Van, along with many other victims, have filed a report with the Criminal Investigation Agency of Quy Hop District, accusing Hai Van and her husband of fraud and misappropriation of property.

According to many victims, using the guise of being bank officials, Kieu Hai Van and Nguyen Anh Tu borrowed money from many people under the pretext of repaying bank loans. The victims of the couple were mainly acquaintances such as friends, relatives, in-laws, and business people who regularly transacted with banks through Tu.

Given the serious nature of the case, involving the fraudster defrauding multiple individuals, law enforcement agencies have actively launched an investigation and expanded the case. During the investigation, the police initially determined that Kieu Hai Van committed fraudulent acts to embezzle 300 million VND from Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan. The police are continuing their investigation to clarify the cases of other victims.

Through investigation, the leaders of the Quy Hop District Police also confirmed that the debt was a private matter between Van Tu and his wife, unrelated to banking operations. The police checked all of Tu's previous transactions but found no signs of violations of monetary security.

The Investigation Police Department of Quy Hop District has transferred the case file to the People's Procuratorate of Quy Hop District.