Investigation into elementary school accountant 'embezzling' 766 million VND from poor students
On the afternoon of October 2, Mr. Pham Van Lap, Chief of Office of the People's Council - People's Committee of Dak Ha district, Kon Tum province, said that in the area, there was an incident where the accountant of a local primary school showed signs of embezzling hundreds of millions of dong in student allowances and the case file had been transferred to the Police Investigation Agency.
Accordingly, the incident occurred at Le Hong Phong Primary School, Ngoc Reo Commune, Dak Ha District (Kon Tum Province). Specifically, on May 8, 2019, the school's Board of Directors directed accountant Pham Thi Hien (31 years old) and treasurer Y Lai Nguyet to withdraw 766.1 million VND from Vietcombank to pay for students. This is the boarding allowance and support money for poor students that 366 students of the school received in the second semester of the 2018-2019 school year according to Decree 116 and Decree 86 of the Government.
Realizing that the amount of money was too large and unsafe to keep at school, the Principal of Le Hong Phong Primary School instructed accountant Pham Thi Hien to deposit it in the bank and withdraw it later when the money was distributed to the students. However, on June 4, 2019, when the school organized to distribute money to the students, accountant Pham Thi Hien was absent and her husband went to school to report that his wife had lost her ID card and could not withdraw the money.
Mr. A Thuin, Principal of Le Hong Phong Primary School, said: "Since the incident happened, Ms. Hien has not come to school anymore. My colleagues and I often go to her house to encourage her to try to fix the problem as soon as possible. Generally, I call her twice a day, but I also promise and promise."
Under pressure from the Board of Directors of Le Hong Phong Primary School, after 4 times, accountant Pham Thi Hien was able to pay the school 267 million out of a total of 766.1 million VND. Realizing that the matter was complicated and had signs of embezzlement of students' money, the People's Committee of Dak Ha district transferred the case file to the District Police Investigation Agency, and at the same time, requested the Board of Directors of Le Hong Phong Primary School to strictly review and take disciplinary action against individuals involved in the violations.
In the immediate future, the Dak Ha District People's Committee has also advanced over 499 million VND from the 2019 budget to Le Hong Phong Primary School to pay for the students' allowances to help them stabilize their studies. The school is responsible for returning this advance payment before December 31, 2019.
