Company director illegally arrests people to collect debt, sentenced to 14 years in prison
(Baonghean.vn) - Thinking that Ms. Lien had borrowed money but refused to pay and also refused to pay for the lottery, Quy forced Ms. Lien to come to the company and filmed the process of forcing her to write a loan note for more than 500 million VND. Quy did not expect that this was the video that would accuse him in court.
On October 23, 2020, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened a criminal appeal trial of Nguyen Van Quy (born 1993) and his accomplices for the crimes of "Illegal arrest and detention", "Robbery" and "Gambling".
Nguyen Van Quy(born in 1993, residing in Xuan An town, Nghi Xuan, Ha Tinh) is the director of Dinh Quy Company Limited, headquartered in Vinh City (Nghe An). Although the company is registered to operate in many different fields, in reality it mainly lends money at high interest rates.
Illegal detention
On the morning of October 15, 2018, Quy and Vo Manh Cuong (born in 1996, residing in Nghi Xuan district, Ha Tinh) went to Ms. Le Thi Kim Lien's boarding house (Vinh city) to demand 527 million VND. Claiming that she did not owe Quy such a large amount of money, Ms. Lien did not pay and was beaten by Quy.
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| Nguyen Van Quy - Director of Dinh Quy Company Limited appeared in court on three charges of "Illegal detention", "Robbery" and "Gambling". Photo: An Quynh |
After that, the group hired a taxi to take Ms. Lien to the company's office. Quy used a knife to hit her, put it to her neck and forced Ms. Lien to write a debt note of 353.6 million VND, of which 527 million VND was for gambling debt (lottery) and 8.5 million VND for previous loans; and wrote a debt note of 70 million VND to Vo Manh Cuong.
To save her life, Ms. Lien was forced to write a loan paper from the company as Quy dictated, paying 300,000 VND/day until the debt was paid off. The entire incident was recorded by Le Tran Thang (born in 1994, residing in Thai Hoa town, Nghe An) using a mobile phone as evidence.
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| Borrowing 15 million VND and paying it back in 30 days, Ms. Lien was arrested by Quy and his accomplices and forced to write a loan note for more than 500 million VND. Photo: An Quynh |
During her arrest, Ms. Lien tried to escape many times but failed. At 3:30 p.m. on October 15, 2018, Vinh City Police inspected the company's office, caught Quy, Cuong, Tuan and Thang in the act of illegally detaining people, and rescued Ms. Le Thi Kim Lien.
Gambling behavior exposed
After the arrest, Vinh City Police discovered that Nguyen Van Quy, Vo Manh Cuong and several others were gambling by texting lottery numbers over the phone.
During the investigation and trial, Nguyen Van Quy claimed that he had repeatedly placed bets via text messages with Ms. Lien and won. However, Ms. Lien did not pay Quy the prize.
However, Ms. Lien denied this. Ms. Lien affirmed that in 2018, she borrowed 15 million VND from Quy, cut 3 million VND in interest, and brought back 12 million VND. After 30 days of paying, Ms. Lien still owed Quy 5 million VND, and was unable to pay, so she asked for an extension.
This woman repeatedly affirmed that she did not participate in the lottery but only owed Quy 5 million VND that she had not yet paid off.
Nguyen Van Quy said that after being arrested, his cell phone was confiscated, and all data related to the betting between Quy and Ms. Lien was no longer saved.
However, the representative of the Provincial People's Procuracy, who held the right to prosecute the state at the trial, said that Quy's testimony was baseless. The minutes of the examination of the evidence with Nguyen Van Quy's signature clearly stated that Quy's mobile phone was in intact condition and was locked with a password set by Quy. The representative of the Provincial People's Procuracy also affirmed that there was no basis to conclude that Ms. Le Thi Kim Lien had recorded lottery numbers for Quy.
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| Nguyen Van Quy and his accomplices at the trial. Photo: An Quynh |
At the trial, Quy and his accomplices did not admit to forcing Ms. Lien to write the loan note, claiming that the victim voluntarily wrote the note because she owed the company money. The authorities released a clip recorded by Le Tran Thang to verify the defendants' statements.
The first instance verdict sentenced defendant Nguyen Van Quy to 15 years in prison for the crime of "Robbery" (12 years), "Arrest and detention of people illegally" (1 year), "Gambling" (2 years); Vo Manh Cuong was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the above 3 crimes. For the two crimes of "Extortion of property" and "Illegal arrest and detention" Le Tran Thang was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
However, the defendants filed an appeal to reduce their criminal liability. At the appeal hearing, defendant Nguyen Van Quy presented documents proving that he had partially compensated for the damage and repented of his actions. Le Tran Thang presented documents proving that he had contributed to helping the investigation agency discover the crime; defendant Vo Manh Cuong had fully compensated the victim.
Considering the entire case, the appellate court decided to reduce part of the criminal liability of the defendants. Specifically, the defendant Nguyen Van Quy was sentenced to 14 years in prison for "Robbery" (11 years), "Illegal arrest and detention" (1 year), and "Gambling" (2 years). Vo Manh Cuong has 6 years and 6 months left in prison for the above 3 crimes. Le Tran Thang has 4 years and 6 months left in prison for "Robbery" and "Illegal arrest and detention".
