The total amount of money that Ngo Hong Son defrauded from dozens of victims was over 5.7 billion VND, of which he appropriated 3.56 billion VND. Meanwhile, Nguyen Duy Tan - former specialist of the Propaganda Department of Kien Giang Provincial Party Committee - defrauded victims of over 4.19 billion VND, of which he appropriated 2.252 billion VND.

Defendants Nguyen Duy Tan (right) and Ngo Hong Son listen to the jury's verdict - Photo: K.NAM

On the afternoon of August 17, the first-instance criminal trial panel of the People's Court of Kien Giang province sentenced defendant Ngo Hong Son (30 years old, residing in Rach Gia city) to 16 years in prison, defendant Nguyen Duy Tan (32 years old, residing in Rach Gia city) - former specialist of the Propaganda Department of Kien Giang Provincial Party Committee - to 11 years in prison (the Procuracy proposed a sentence of 8 - 9 years in prison), both for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property.

According to the indictment, from 2012 to October 2015, Ngo Hong Son claimed to be a civil servant working at the Department of Construction, then hired forgeries of seals and signatures of many organizations and individuals such as department heads, directors, square seals of the Rach Gia City Construction Investment Management Board, the name seal of Mr. Dinh Quang Vu - director of the project management board, the signature of Ms. Vu Thi Diem Thuy - business director of Phu Cuong Company... to fraudulently sell project land.

To commit the fraud, Son proactively got acquainted with Nguyen Duy Tan and asked Tan - at that time an officer of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department - to falsely sell dozens of house plots in resettlement projects such as Le Hong Phong, An Binh, Vinh Hiep, the Northwest Rach Gia sea encroachment area, the Phu Quoc resettlement area... at prices cheaper than the market.

At around 2:00 p.m. on October 26, 2015, when Tan was receiving a 50 million VND deposit from Mr. Tran Tuong Lai to short-sell a house at a coffee shop, he was caught red-handed by Rach Gia City Police.

At the investigation agency, Son confessed that his first two victims were Mr. Pham Cong Hau (who was the father of Son's girlfriend and now Son's father-in-law when Son tricked him into buying land) and his accomplice Nguyen Duy Tan. Son had appropriated 687.5 million VND from Mr. Hau and 888.8 million VND from Tan.

The total amount of money that Ngo Hong Son defrauded from dozens of victims was over 5.7 billion VND, of which he appropriated 3.56 billion VND. Meanwhile, Nguyen Duy Tan defrauded the victims of over 4.19 billion VND, of which he appropriated 2.252 billion VND.

So far, Son has only paid 22 million VND in compensation. Tan's family has paid 913 million VND in compensation.

Many victims of Son and Tan said that since losing money without receiving land, their families' circumstances have been extremely difficult. Many victims borrowed money from banks to buy fake land and are now in a dead end.

According to TT0