Accountant and school treasurer in Nghe An embezzled billions
(Baonghean.vn) - Taking advantage of the loose control mechanism of competent authorities, Nga intentionally created a false payroll to appropriate the difference. The treasurer discovered the incident but did not report it to his superiors and secretly shared the money. In relation to this incident, the principal was also prosecuted for the crime of Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.
On September 25, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial to try Vuong Thi Nga (born in 1968, residing in Nghi Lien commune, Vinh city), and Le Thi Tu (born in 1964, residing in Nghi Van commune, Nghi Loc district) for the crime of "Embezzlement of property”. Defendant Dau Thi Tan (born in 1964, residing in Dong Vinh ward, Vinh city) was tried for the crime of “Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences”.
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| Defendants Dau Thi Tan (right) and Le Thi Tu. Photo: Tran Vu |
Because defendant Nga is suffering from a serious illness, she submitted a request for trial in absentia and was approved by the panel of judges.
According to the records, Vuong Thi Nga holds the position of chief accountant of Nghi Van Secondary School (Nghi Loc district), is the person with the position, authority, and responsibility for making salary estimates and paying salaries to teachers in the school.
During the implementation of the task, from 2013 to 2017, taking advantage of the loose control mechanism of the competent authorities, Nga intentionally created a wrong salary table to be approved by the District Finance and Planning Department, and submitted to the Nghi Loc District People's Committee to decide to allocate a higher budget than the actual regulations. Nga's purpose was to withdraw more money than the actual salary level the school was granted from the Treasury.
During the period from 2013 to 2014, after withdrawing money from the Treasury to pay teachers, there was still a surplus amount, Vuong Thi Nga and Le Thi Tu (the school's treasurer) agreed to divide and appropriate more than 400 million VND. Nga and Tu each divided more than 200 million VND.
During the period from 2015 to 2017, the Treasury changed the form of salary payment through bank accounts. When creating a list of staff and teacher accounts at the school, Nga created an additional account under her husband's name. Every month, the difference in the amount due to the increase was transferred by Nga to her and her husband's accounts. The amount of money that Nga appropriated during this period was more than 733 million VND.
The investigation agency determined that the total amount of money that Nga had incorrectly estimated for the school's salary fund was more than 1.5 billion VND higher than the actual amount. Nga embezzled more than 900 million VND. Tu embezzled more than 200 million VND. The remaining amount was divided among the teachers in the school.
Dau Thi Tan is the Principal of Nghi Van Secondary School, responsible for the management and use of the state budget. Due to her trust in the accountant, she did not annually check the accounting documents and vouchers that Nga submitted for signature, allowing Nga to intentionally create a higher salary estimate than the regulations. Tan also did not strictly control the activities of the cashier, leading to monthly surplus money after paying the salary that Tan did not detect. Therefore, Dau Thi Tan must bear criminal responsibility for her actions.Lack of responsibility causes serious consequences.
At the witness stand, the two defendants Tan and Tu admitted their crimes.
The panel sentenced Vuong Thi Nga to 7 years in prison and Le Thi Tu to 3 years in prison, suspended for the crime of embezzlement. Sentenced defendant Dau Thi Tan to 12 months of non-custodial reform for the crime of lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.
