Former female power company employee embezzles over 2.7 billion VND.

On September 23, the Hanoi High Court of Appeal opened a criminal appeals trial to hear the case of Phan Thi Thu Huong (born in 1976), residing in Le Loi Ward (Vinh City), on the charge of "Abuse of position and power to misappropriate assets.

Huong is a sales department employee atElectricityI've been working in Vinh City since 2006. My job responsibilities include monitoring and processing debt (using software) for customers, and reporting on business performance.

Every month, after collecting electricity bills from customers, at the end of the month, Ecpay's cashiers have to contact Huong to reconcile accounts and clear debts on the software for customers.

Defendant Phan Thi Thu Huong. Photo: Tran Vu

Taking advantage of her position and connections, Huong gave four Ecpay employees a bill of electricity bill collection notice bearing the official seal of Vinh City Power Company. She instructed these employees to use these notices to collect electricity bills from customers and transfer the collected money to her. Huong would then directly process the debt cancellation for customers on the CMIS system she managed.

Trusting her, the Ecpay employees transferred the collected funds to Huong. After receiving the money, Huong cleared the debt for the customers on the tracking system but did not deposit the money with the company.

The incident was discovered by the treasurer of Vinh City Power Company when checking the cash fund ledger and the electricity bill collection account. During a meeting with the accountant, it was found that the entire amount in question had not been deposited into the cash fund or the electricity bill collection account of Vinh City Power Company.

Investigators determined that the total amount of money Phan Thi Thu Huong embezzled and used was over 2.7 billion VND. Huong was arrested for investigation on charges of "Abusing her position and authority to appropriate property."

With the aggravating circumstance of committing the crime multiple times, the trial court sentenced Phan Thi Thu Huong to 14 years in prison. Considering the sentence too harsh, the defendant filed an appeal requesting a reduction in punishment.

At the appellate court, the defendant Huong presented several mitigating circumstances such as having rectified the consequences, her family having contributed to the revolution, her role in assisting the Ha Tinh Police in apprehending criminals, and the victim's request for a reduced sentence for the defendant.

Finding the defendant's appeal to be well-founded, the appellate court accepted the appeal and sentenced Phan Thi Thu Huong to 11 years in prison for the crime of "Abusing official position and authority to appropriate property".