Illegal money withdrawal trick of forest protection management officials in Nghe An

On June 2, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of the defendants Phan Tien Sy (born 1958), Nguyen Tho Huy (born 1976), Nguyen Tho Vinh (born 1965), Ngo Sy Loi (born 1986), Nguyen Van Thanh (born 1961), Ho Dinh Lai (born 1984), Nguyen Thi Tram (born 1984), Phan Thi Vinh (born 1984), all residing in Yen Thanh district, for the crime of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties", Phan Van Minh (born 1979) and Nguyen Duc Thien (born 1973) were brought to trial for the crime of "Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences".

According to the indictment, in 2016, the Yen Thanh Forest Protection Management Board (FPMB) had more than 492 hectares of land confiscated to hand over to a unit to implement a dairy farming project. With the intention of appropriating compensation money, Phan Tien Sy - Head of the Yen Thanh FPMB directed Nguyen Tho Huy (Deputy Head of the FPMB) to prepare a compensation file for the FPMB's land area (27/31 plots, equivalent to 639,745m2) and convert it into a compensation file for Mr. Sy and 3 other people: Ho Dinh Lai (Head of Forest Protection Management Station No. 4), Nguyen Thi Tram (treasurer) and Phan Thi Vinh (accountant).

Phan Tien Sy directed Nguyen Van Thanh (Head of Technical Planning Department of Yen Thanh Forest Protection Management Board) to make a certificate of origin, time and current land use status, so that the land had an origin and was allocated to the 4 households named in the above "fake" compensation records.

Defendant Phan Tien Sy at the trial. Photo: Duc Vu

The 4 plots of land under the names of these 4 forest management officers were later compensated with more than 5 billion VND. Of which, the file under Mr. Phan Tien Sy's name was compensated with more than 230 million VND. The file under Mr. Ho Dinh Lai's name was compensated with nearly 3 billion VND. The file under Ms. Nguyen Thi Tram's name was compensated with 1.2 billion VND. The file under Ms. Phan Thi Vinh's name was compensated with more than 580 million VND.

This entire amount was not recorded in the accounting books, nor reported to the revenue settlement of the RPH Management Board, but was spent on individuals as well as paying expenses without legal invoices and documents.

Specifically, Mr. Phan Tien Sy personally pocketed more than 667 million VND; Nguyen Tho Huy received 383 million VND; Nguyen Tho Vinh (chief accountant) received 369 million VND; Nguyen Van Thanh received more than 336 million VND; Ngo Sy Loi (Deputy Head of Science and Technology Department) received 53 million VND; Ho Dinh Lai received more than 48 million VND; Nguyen Thi Tram received more than 45 million VND; Phan Thi Vinh received more than 39 million VND.

In response to serious violations, in May 2019, these people were arrested one after another. The investigation agency determined that the act of creating fake documents to receive compensation by the above forest rangers caused a loss of 4.7 billion VND to the Yen Thanh Forest Protection Management Board; and caused a loss of more than 260 million VND to the investor (the compensation payment unit).

When the case was exposed, Mr. Phan Tien Sy returned all the compensation he had received and paid an additional 700 million VND to remedy the consequences. The remaining officials: Nguyen Tho Vinh, Nguyen Tho Huy, Ho Dinh Lai, Ngo Sy Loi, Nguyen Thi Tram, Phan Thi Vinh also returned all the money they had received and paid additional money to remedy the consequences.

Defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Regarding the criminal acts of Mr. Phan Van Minh (Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Thanh District) and Mr. Nguyen Duc Thien - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Thanh District, the investigation agency determined that Mr. Minh was the direct appraiser and also the team leader assisting the Compensation Council. However, he did not check and appraise the related documents and records, so he created the wrong compensation file and plan, leading to the wrong beneficiaries.

Because he trusted Mr. Minh, Mr. Thien failed to check and evaluate the compensation records and plans, and therefore failed to detect that the compensation records bearing the names of the 4 officials of the Yen Thanh Forest Protection Management Board mentioned above were for the wrong subjects.

At the trial, the defendants admitted their crimes, expressed remorse, and asked for a lighter sentence. Considering the entire case, the court sentenced Phan Tien Sy to 5 years in prison, Nguyen Tho Huy to 30 months in prison, Nguyen Tho Vinh to 42 months in prison, Ngo Sy Loi to 30 months suspended, Nguyen Van Thanh to 24 months suspended, Ho Dinh Lai to 21 months suspended, Nguyen Thi Tram to 21 months suspended, Phan Thi Vinh to 18 months suspended, Phan Van Minh to 18 months suspended, and Nguyen Duc Thien to 15 months suspended.