Portrait of the 'spit dealer' who appropriated 30,000 USD
(Baonghean.vn) - Vu Xuan Bac said he used to work in real estate in Hanoi so he had many acquaintances. When he heard that the family of a defendant in Nghe An was in need of bail, Bac immediately approached them and offered 30,000 USD to take charge of bail, but in reality, he was defrauding them for personal expenses.
Nghe An Provincial People's Court has just opened a trial of defendant Vu Xuan Bac (born 1988), residing in Nghia Thuan commune, Thai Hoa town, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
Bac is an educated person, having graduated from a college. After graduating, Bac chose Hanoi to build and develop his career. This young man has worked in many jobs, including real estate brokerage. This subject confessed that during his career, he had met many "big shots" in the capital.
In July 2021, Bac heard that Mr. TVB (residing in Minh Hop commune, Quy Hop district) was detained for illegal mining and his family was looking for a way to release him on bail. Therefore, Bac returned to Nghe An, approached the family of this defendant, and "boasted" that he had many acquaintances and was capable of taking care of his bail. Bac's purpose was to defraud and get money for personal use.
Bac offered to “run” bail for 30,000 USD and the defendant’s family agreed. After that, Bac contacted a man in Hanoi to “connect” him to meet a leader of Nghe An Provincial Police to request bail for Mr. B.
At the meeting on August 2, 2021, the leader of Nghe An Provincial Police refused and said that the case would be handled according to the law. However, Bac still lied to Ms. Le Thi O. (Mr. B.'s wife) that he could handle this because "when the leader meets, there is hope".
Then, Bac suggested that Ms. O. give him 20,000 USD to ask her "boss" in Hanoi to influence the bail process. Trusting him, the defendant's wife gave Bac the above amount. After receiving the money, Bac went to a gold shop to exchange it into Vietnamese currency, then deposited it into his personal account and spent it all.
The next day, with no news of her husband's release on bail, Ms. O. called Bac several times. At this time, Bac gave the reason that due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the "boss" had not yet returned to Nghe An to request bail for the defendant. Later, at the direct meeting, Bac suggested that if the "big boss" in Hanoi was enthusiastic about returning to Nghe An to take care of the matter, she should transfer 10,000 USD in advance. Without any doubt, Ms. O. gave Bac another 10,000 USD.
In addition to the above amount, Ms. O. also gave Bac 70 million VND for gas and food expenses during the trip to ask for bail for her husband.
After waiting for a while but not seeing the results as Bac promised, Ms. O. found out that she had been scammed. The family contacted Bac many times to ask for the money back, but he always tried to hide. On April 20, 2023, Ms. Le Thi O. filed a criminal complaint with the police. During the investigation, the police determined that Vu Xuan Bac had appropriated nearly 700 million VND from the victim.
Answering the questions of the People's Court, defendant Bac frankly admitted that the purpose of approaching the victim's family was to defraud and appropriate money.
The defendant stated that he was fully aware that his actions were wrong, so at the first trial, Bac refused to have a lawyer appointed to defend him. However, at this trial, the defendant agreed to have a lawyer participate in his defense.
Regarding the amount of money he had embezzled, the defendant stated that he had spent it all on personal use, but Bac said he “couldn’t remember” what it was used for. Regarding the incident, the victim only requested that Bac compensate him with 30,000 USD. As for the 70 million VND spent on food and gas, the victim did not request it to be returned. Before the trial took place, the defendant had influenced the victim’s family to compensate the victim’s family with all the money.
In his final statement before the court deliberated, the defendant stated that he realized his actions were wrong and violated the law. He hoped to receive leniency from the Party and the State so that he could start his life over.
The panel of judges determined that the defendant was not the person conducting the proceedings and therefore did not have the authority to change the preventive measures for the accused. However, the defendant used deceitful tricks to defraud the victim and appropriate money. The defendant's actions violated the law and should be dealt with severely.
However, it is also necessary to consider some mitigating circumstances for the defendant such as his honest confession, having remedied the consequences, and the victim's request for a reduced sentence for the defendant. After considering the entire case, the panel sentenced defendant Vu Xuan Bac to 9 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
The court ended, the defendant calmly followed the officers back to the detention center. It was greed that pushed the educated young man into crime, regardless of the law...
