Former officer of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment defrauded nearly 100 billion VND and was sentenced to life in prison

On the afternoon of February 20, the People's Court of Thanh Hoa province sentenced Nguyen Le Giang, a former officer of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Thanh Hoa city, to life in prison for fraud and appropriation of nearly 100 billion VND.

According to the indictment of the Procuracy: From 2009 to September 2017, Nguyen Le Giang was an officer working at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Thanh Hoa City. During his time working, Giang provided false information that he could buy land plots in Thanh Hoa City at preferential prices, cheaper than the market price. Believing that Nguyen Le Giang was an officer working in the land-related field, many people gave Giang money to deposit to buy land.

In particular, since October 2017, Nguyen Le Giang was transferred to the Thanh Hoa City Sports Center, but he continued to receive money and promised to buy land for individuals in need. After receiving the money, Giang used it for personal consumption and debt repayment, not buying land as promised. According to statistics, 19 individuals were defrauded and appropriated by Giang with a total amount of nearly 97 billion VND.

From right to left, the subjects: Nguyen Le Giang, Le Van Dung and Dam Thi Quyen.

Giang's accomplices in this case include: Dam Thi Quyen (born 1989), in Dong Tho ward, Thanh Hoa city; Le Van Dung (born 1990), in Hoang Ngoc commune, Hoang Hoa district.

Accordingly, under Giang's direction, Dam Thi Quyen received deposits and purchased land from individuals under the name of Belta Company Limited. The investigation agency determined that Dam Thi Quyen was an accomplice, helping Nguyen Le Giang defraud and appropriate 2.4 billion VND. In addition, Dam Thi Quyen also defrauded and appropriated 700 million VND from 3 people who asked her to buy land.

Regarding the defendant Le Van Dung, this defendant and Dam Thi Quyen established Belta Company Limited, in which Dung was the Director and Quyen was the Deputy Director. However, all activities of this Company were managed by Quyen, Dung was only the owner.

To carry out the fraud, Nguyen Le Giang also directed Le Van Dung to buy a laser engraving machine to make fake seals for 94 million VND. After buying the laser engraving machine, Giang gave Dung a sample and asked him to make a fake seal of Lam Son Construction and Trading Company Limited. Dung then made a fake seal and gave it to Giang to use. In addition, Dung also helped Quyen make fake seals of other companies to use for the purpose of fraud and property appropriation.

Based on the case file, the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Procuracy prosecuted Nguyen Le Giang for the crimes of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Forgery of seals and documents of agencies and organizations", stipulated in Point a, Clause 4, Article 174 and Points a, b, Clause 3, Article 341 of the Penal Code. Nguyen Thi Quyen was prosecuted for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property", stipulated in Point a, Clause 4, Article 174 of the Penal Code. Le Van Dung was prosecuted for the crime of "Forgery of seals of agencies and organizations", stipulated in Point b, c, Clause 2, Article 341 of the Penal Code.

After deliberation, the Trial Council sentenced Nguyen Le Giang to life in prison for “Fraudulent appropriation of property” and 5 years in prison for “Forgery of documents of agencies and organizations”, with a total sentence of life in prison. Dam Thi Quyen was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “Fraudulent appropriation of property”; Le Van Dung was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison for “Forgery of seals of agencies and organizations”.