Accountant and treasurer colluded to embezzle billions of dong from the forestry department
The head of the Forestry Sub-Department was prosecuted for lack of responsibility in management, allowing the chief accountant, with the help of the sub-department treasurer, to embezzle more than 5.8 billion VND of the agency.
The People's Procuracy of Phu Yen province has just indicted two defendants, Huynh Ngoc Tuan (49 years old, former chief accountant), Nguyen Thi Thanh Nguyen (59 years old, former treasurer of Phu Yen Forest Protection Department) for embezzlement of property and Phan Van Cong (62 years old, former head of Phu Yen Forest Protection Department) for lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.
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| Police read the indictment and arrest warrant for suspect Huynh Ngoc Tuan for investigation. |
According to the indictment, from April 2015 to October 2017, Ms. Nguyen took money from the agency’s fund 91 times and gave it to Mr. Tuan at his request. Through that, Mr. Tuan appropriated more than 5.8 billion VND.
In addition, in 2017, Huynh Ngoc Tuan also created fake documents for purchasing fuel, drinking water, photocopying documents, and receiving money to guarantee clothing to embezzle 45 million VND.
From 2015 to May 2017, Mr. Phan Van Cong was irresponsible, did not conduct cash checks, financial accounting checks; signed and approved 74 documents to withdraw budget estimates for payment and advances, did not check and compare, so did not detect Mr. Tuan and Ms. Nguyen colluded to take agency funds for personal use, causing damage to state assets of more than 5 billion VND.
The indictment also stated that Ms. Nguyen was irresponsible in cash management, causing the loss of agency funds, so when handing over the treasurer to retire, she was short of more than 4.3 billion VND.
At the investigation agency, Mr. Tuan confessed to embezzling the agency’s funds to register lottery numbers, bet on football and pay off loan sharks. However, the investigation results could not determine the names and addresses of the subjects involved in gambling and there was no document proving the loan sharking, so there was no basis to prosecute him for gambling.
During the investigation, Mr. Tuan also confessed that he had given money to the defendant Phan Van Cong many times during holidays, Tet, business trips in the country and abroad, amounting to 125 million VND. However, the investigation results showed that this statement was unfounded.
This case also involves many other individuals in the Phu Yen Forest Protection Department, the Phu Yen Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the owners of several businesses in Tuy Hoa City. However, according to the indictment, these people did not discuss or know that Mr. Tuan had committed a crime, so the authorities only proposed administrative sanctions.
