Officials of Vinh City Land Fund Development Center created "fake" documents to appropriate nearly 10 billion VND.

On February 28, 2019, Nghe An Provincial People's Court tried defendant Tran Xuan Ha (born in 1983; residing in Hung Phuc commune, Hung Nguyen district, Nghe An province) for the act of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

The defendant was formerly the Deputy Head of the Department of the Vinh City Land Fund Development Center. Because he was knowledgeable about the procedures at the Center, defendant Ha used fraudulent means to forge the signature of the Deputy Director of the Center to write loan papers with the content of contributing investment capital, promising to make land titles, and transferring land use rights to defraud and appropriate the assets of 8 victims with an amount of up to 9.6 billion VND.

Defendant Tran Xuan Ha in court. Photo: Quynh An.

One of the first “business” deals Ha made was by creating handwritten documents with the content of land use fee exemption and land title for the victims. During the implementation of the 72m road project in Nghi Phu commune, Tran Xuan Ha accidentally learned that Mr. Le Trong Tr. received support from the state, compensation of more than 5 billion VND including land and assets on the land.

Because he needed money to pay off his debt to society, Ha came up with the idea of ​​defrauding and appropriating Mr. Tr's property. Through the "cover" of being the deputy head of the Center, Ha contacted Mr. Tr and said that he could do the procedures for land use fee exemption and reduction, and at the same time make a red book for Mr. Tr. Because he trusted the appearance Ha created, Mr. Tr did not think twice but transferred money to Ha to take care of the matter with a total loss of 2.1 billion VND.

Seeing that the “business” seemed to be going well, Ha came up with a new trick to gain the trust of the victims. Using his previous acquaintance, Ha suggested to Mr. Pham Cong B., a land officer of Hung Phuc ward, to contribute capital to a land investment contract to make a profit.

Because he trusted the cover Ha created along with the contract, Ha "took the trouble" to forge the signature of Mr. Dinh Xuan Binh - Deputy Director of Vinh City Land Fund Development Center. Mr. Pham Cong B. without any doubt gave Ha the 1 billion VND that he had saved.

Another case that was also deceived by Ha was Mr. Nguyen Van H. During the working process, because they knew each other, Ha learned that Mr. H, the head of Hamlet 17, Nghi Phu Commune, was in need of buying land. Tran Xuan Ha immediately lied to Mr. H that he needed to sell land plot A16 of Ms. Nguyen Thi Ly.

On April 4, 2018, Ha signed a contract to transfer land lot A16 and received 500 million VND from Mr. H. Then, using the excuse of needing money to complete the name change procedure, Ha took another 100 million VND from Mr. H.

Thus, in a short period of time, Tran Xuan Ha defrauded and appropriated the assets of 8 victims with an amount of up to 9.6 billion VND. The defendant stated that all of the above money was used by Ha to pay personal debts, without any recorded documents.

At the trial, in his final statement, the defendant confessed his crime. At the same time, he asked for leniency from the law so that he could soon return to society to work honestly and earn money to pay back the victims.

The panel of judges determined: The defendant's actions are dangerous to society and should be punished to set an example for others. Applying aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel of judges decided to sentence defendant Tran Xuan Ha to 18 years in prison. At the same time, he must return all the money to the victim.