Chairman of Chau Binh Commune Farmers' Association fled with billions of dong

(Baonghean) -Taking advantage of her position as Chairwoman of the Farmers' Association of Chau Binh Commune, Lo Thi Hoa (residing in Do 3 village, Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau) borrowed billions of dong from many households and then suddenly fled, causing many families to fall into misery.

With a face of bewilderment and pity, Mrs. Lo Thi Dau, residing in Do 3 village, said: “Because I trusted my nephew, who is also an official of the Commune Farmers' Association, I did not hesitate when he asked to borrow money. That day was July 16, he came and said he would lend me 50 million VND to exchange for a bank deed in a few days. I had money from selling acacia so I gave it all to him. Who would have thought that a few days later he would run away.” Choking with tears, she said that since the day she knew Hoa had run away, every night she waited for Hoa to come back but only saw the door closed.

In the same situation as Mrs. Dau, Mr. Lang Van Truong, from Do 3 village, also mistakenly lent Hoa 200 million VND, and now he is in a deadlock, with his wife and children in discord. Mr. Truong said: "I have saved up for years to get 200 million VND from the acacia harvest, and have not yet paid the workers. Now I accidentally believed that Hoa said she only borrowed for 2 days to do the paperwork to change the contract and then pay, but who would have thought he would leave. Now I don't have any wages to pay, and I don't know where the children's upcoming school fees are. The plan to re-roof the house before the rainy season has been abandoned..."

It is known that up to this point, dozens of families have come to report the incident to the local authorities. Mr. Lang Thanh Hoai, head of the commune police, said: Ms. Lo Thi Hong (Binh 1 village, Chau Binh commune) reported that she lent Hoa 500 million VND; Lo Thi Nga (Binh 3 village, Chau Binh commune) lent 20 million VND; Vi Thi Huong (Binh 3 village, Chau Binh) lent 15 million VND; Kim Thi Tu (Binh 3 village, Chau Binh) lent 300 million VND; Kim Thi Nam (Binh 3 village, Chau Binh) lent 400 million VND; Nguyen Van Quyen (Binh 2 village, Chau Binh) lent 460 million VND...

When borrowing money, Hoa promised to pay both principal and interest on time, with high interest rates from 3,000 - 7,000 VND/1 million VND/1 day. However, even though the repayment deadline had not yet come, the debtor had already "run away". It is worth mentioning that among the families who lent money to Hoa, some did not even have a receipt. Only when the incident broke out did everyone in the commune become surprised to discover that Hoa's victims were not just a few people but dozens of people. There were families where both husband and wife lent money to Hoa.

Private house of Lo Thi Hoa and her husband in Do 3 village, Chau Binh commune (Quy Chau).

Talking to us, Mr. Kim Van Duyen - Chairman of Chau Binh Commune People's Committee said: "Lo Thi Hoa (born in 1982) is the Chairman of the Commune Farmers' Association for the 2011-2016 term, her husband is Kim Van Phuong (born in 1981), from Do 2 village. Before leaving the area, both of them showed no signs of being ill. On July 27, hearing information from the people that Hoa and her husband had run away due to debt, we went to Hoa's house in Do 3 village and the fertilizer shop in Binh 2 village but could not find them, and we could not contact them by phone.

Faced with the complexity of the matter, we reported to the district leaders and the district police that there was debt, but the amount of money was not specifically determined. The majority of them were households in Binh 2 village, mainly households that sold dried bamboo shoots, harvested acacia, and saved sugarcane for a long time. On August 2, the Party Committee and People's Committee of the commune also held a meeting to review and check whether any households borrowed money from the bank and then lent it to Hoa. At the same time, they agreed to temporarily assign the task of comrade Hoa to comrade Lo Van Phu (Vice Chairman of the Farmers' Association).

On the police side, Colonel Thai Doan Hieu - Head of Quy Chau District Police said: After receiving information about the above incident, we have notified those involved in the incident to come to the police station to report and currently there have been nearly 20 cases, mainly women, from Chau Binh commune, who have come to report the incident. According to the people who came to report, the incident took place since December 2012, but the most mobilized was in the past month. According to the people's report, the amount of money given to Hoa is currently up to 7.3 billion VND. With our functions and tasks, in addition to stabilizing the situation in the area, we continue to collect evidence of those who lent to Hoa, and at the same time coordinate with localities and reputable people to find clues about the hiding place of the subject. On that basis, clarify the nature of the incident to have measures to handle it in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Colonel Thai Doan Hieu - Chief of Quy Chau District Police:“In addition to lending money to Lo Thi Hoa, according to reports, people in Chau Binh commune recently also lent money to Lang Thi Huong (in Binh 2 village, Chau Binh commune) with the amount of 1.7 billion VND and she has now also absconded. The police are also investigating and verifying.”

Mr. Nguyen Khac Ky - Director of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Quy Chau Branch:“Chau Binh is a strong economic development area of ​​Quy Chau district, based on revenue from sugarcane, acacia... but the source of money that people deposit in banks is not much. Not to mention there are cases where they withdraw money from banks to lend outside with high interest rates, although we have warned that the higher the interest rate, the greater the risk. However, in light of the above incident, the bank will conduct a review to see if households that have borrowed money from banks for a long time have lent to Hoa and Huong. If they have lent money, is there a plan to repay the debt? Currently, Lo Thi Hoa and Lang Thi Huong each have borrowed 50 million VND from the bank.”

Article and photos: Dang Nguyen