The couple who boasted of knowing leaders of the Ministry of Public Security and Defense swindled half a billion

On September 27, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial to try defendants Tran Huy Phong (born 1953), residing in Cua Nam ward, Vinh city, and Tran Thi Hong (born 1957), residing in Trung Do ward, Vinh city, for the crime of"Fraudulent appropriation of property".

Phong and Hong knew each other before. After a period of losing contact, in September 2017 when they met again, Phong told Hong that he was working in Hanoi, knew many leaders of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defense, had the ability to apply for a transfer to the police and the army, and then told Hong to find a connection so that they could both make money.

Two defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

In early October 2017, at a coffee shop in Vinh City, Hong met Ms. Dau Thi M. and bragged about knowing many leaders of Military Region 4 and Border Guard, affirming that she would definitely be able to get her child to become a professional Border Guard for 300 million VND. Trusting her, Ms. M. gave Hong 150 million VND in advance.

On October 15, 2017, at another coffee shop, Hong took Phong to meet Ms. M. Here, Hong and Phong introduced: Phong worked at the Ministry of National Defense, had connections and was the person who directly applied for a job for Ms. M's child. Both of them committed that after 1 year, they would get Ms. M's child to join the Nghe An Border Guard. Trusting, Ms. M. and her husband continued to give Phong 150 million VND. After receiving the money, both Hong and Phong spent it all for personal use.

At the request of the Department, Ms. M. and her husband asked for their son to enlist at Na Loi Border Post - Nghe An Border Guard to transfer to the professional army. At the beginning of 2020, Ms. M.'s son was discharged from the army and could not join the professional army as Hong and the Department had committed.

In addition, in March 2018, while receiving money to transfer to the Professional Army for one of Ms. M's children, Phong knew that she had another child who was doing military service at Thu Duc Detention Station, so he continued to use the above trick to defraud. Trusting Ms. M's family, he gave Phong 200 million VND. Ms. M's son was discharged from the army in February 2019 and was not allowed to join the police force as Phong had promised.

In December 2020, Ms. M. filed a complaint to the police about the subjects' fraudulent behavior. On February 7 and 8, 2020, Phong and Hong turned themselves in to the police.

At the trial, defendant Phong admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment, expressing remorse.

Meanwhile, defendant Hong denied his crime. Before the testimony of the victims and defendant Phong, defendant Hong admitted his wrongdoings.

After considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel sentenced Tran Huy Phong to 8 years in prison and Tran Thi Hong to 3 years in prison, suspended. The court ordered the defendants to return the money they had appropriated from the victim (minus the amount of compensation).