'Luring' people with merit to make gold plaques of honor at sky-high prices

(Baonghean.vn) - Taking advantage of the name of taking free photos and issuing the traditional Golden Book to honor Vietnamese Heroic Mothers and people with revolutionary contributions, Hai Duong Digital Color Photo Company Limited has "lured" people with revolutionary contributions to make a golden plaque to honor them at an exorbitant price. Unfortunately, this plaque has no value.

According to information from many communes in Hung Nguyen district, recently, Hai Duong Digital Color Photography Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as the company) has come to the hamlets to take photos, make gold plaques, and then collect money from people who come to Nghe An Newspaper.

Inside the Golden Book of Honor for Heroic Vietnamese Mothers and People with Meritorious Services to the Revolution, the information is very sketchy.

According to the source, the subjects photographed by the company are Heroic Mothers of Vietnam and people with revolutionary contributions. Each person will have a 4x6 photo taken with information such as full name, year of birth, subject, and then collected in a book called "Traditional Golden Book to honor Heroic Mothers of Vietnam and people with revolutionary contributions". This book will be kept at the People's Committee of the commune with the purpose of showing gratitude and honoring people with revolutionary contributions.

However, in addition to taking free photos to make a gold book, the meritorious subjects were also enticed by the company's employees to make a "Golden Board honoring people with meritorious services to the revolution" for 330,000 VND/plate.

Nearly a month after receiving the sign that the company staff brought, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Quyet (born in 1951, Ky hamlet, Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district), a 4/4-class war invalid, still did not dare to hang it up. “I did this without hiding it from my husband and my children because if they knew it would cost so much money, my children would not let me do it. Since the day I brought it home, I have not dared to hang it up anywhere. I am afraid that my children will find out and scold me.”

According to Mrs. Quyet, that day was April 18, after hearing the loudspeaker in the neighborhood announcing that those who had contributed to the revolution should go to the neighborhood cultural house to take photos to make a traditional gold book for free. She and her husband, Mr. Dang Hong Thai (born in 1949), a 1/4-class war invalid, went to the cultural house to take photos. After taking photos, the company staff invited her and her husband to make a gold plaque in honor. Thinking that it would cost little money, Mrs. Quyet and her husband agreed to do it.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Quyet and her husband made two gold plaques for 660 thousand VND.

“A week after taking the photo, the neighborhood announced that we should go to the cultural house to receive the sign. When I went, they said it would cost us 660,000 VND. I didn’t give them enough money, so I had to go home and get it before they let me receive the sign. I knew it was expensive, but I thought they had already made it, so I had to accept it,” said Ms. Quyet.

Mrs. Quyet showed us a framed golden plaque. Printed on top was the line “Forever honoring those who have contributed to the revolution”, in the middle was the line “Those who have contributed to the revolution are a valuable asset of the country, a shining example for the community and society”.

Below is the name of the person with merit, year of birth, hometown and photo of the person being honored. Notably, this plaque has no supplier, no date of issue and no information about the organization that issued this plaque.

Mr. Hoang Van Tung (born in 1958, Khoa Da 2 hamlet, Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district) is a policy beneficiary, a 4/4-class war invalid, currently receiving a monthly allowance of more than 1 million VND. Mr. Tung said that on April 18, he and other policy beneficiaries in the hamlet heard the hamlet chief's announcement on the loudspeaker to go to the cultural house to take pictures and make a free merit book.

“After taking the picture, they asked me if I wanted to make one to hang at home. I agreed because I thought it would be free as the commune had announced. A few days later, they brought a gold plaque to the village and priced it at 330,000 VND. I asked why it was so expensive, but they said it had already been printed and forced me to take it,” Mr. Tung said.

The golden plaque has only a few information about the applicant, no unit or date of issue.

At the headquarters of the People's Committee of Hung Tay commune, Ms. Doan Thi Huyen - a commune policy officer confirmed that the People's Committee of the commune issued an official dispatch and notified the officials of 20 hamlets (divided into 10 clusters) to inform the subjects to know and implement. When mentioning the fact that many people complained about the company soliciting to make gold plaques and then collecting money, Ms. Huyen said that she had heard that the company took pictures to make gold plaques for the people.

“The commune has now received the honorary golden book. If there is such an incident, it is due to the agreement between the company and the people. The commune has not received any feedback from the people. When the company came to the village, I went down to check and informed the company as well as the people that taking photos for the golden book is completely free. The commune did not include the content of taking photos for the golden plaque this time,” said Ms. Huyen.

Nguyen Hung