Another billion-dong savings association collapse in Nghe An

Reluctantly accept debt settlement at "exorbitant" prices

For over a month now, the spacious house of Mr. Pham Cong Dong (40 years old) in Dong Phu hamlet, Khanh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district has been kept closed. Outside the gate, many people occasionally gather to chat and stop by to see the "movement" of the homeowner.

Mr. Dong is the head of a rotating savings and credit association with hundreds of members that has been active for many years. However, at the end of March, the head of this association suddenly “disappeared”, causing chaos in the once peaceful village.

This is the latest hui collapse incident that has occurred in Khanh Thanh commune. According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Truong, in Khanh Thanh commune, in just the past 4 months, this commune has had 3 hui collapse incidents. “Each incident is about a month apart,” Mr. Truong said.

Pham Cong Dong's house has been closed for more than a month. Photo: Tien Hung

"In this hamlet alone, the number of members who are owed money by Mr. Dong is about 50 people," said Ms. Tran Thi Sy (62 years old), adding that in addition to people in Khanh Thanh commune, Mr. Dong also mobilized ward members from other neighboring communes.

People estimate that the ward chief still owes them about 4 billion VND. Some owe up to 200 million VND, some owe a few million VND.

Mrs. Sy is a retired primary school teacher. Her husband passed away, she lives with her daughter who is a teacher at a local school. Mrs. Sy's house is less than 50 meters from Mr. Dong's house. Saving her pension money along with her daughter's salary, Mrs. Sy started playing in the ward owned by Mr. Dong for more than 2 years now.

“In addition to my daughter’s money, I also paid for a younger brother. In total, I paid 5 installments each month, each installment was 2 million VND, with 500,000 VND in interest,” Ms. Sy said.

In each ward, when it is his turn to pick up, Mr. Dong receives 500,000 VND. “If it is his turn and no one picks up, Mr. Dong will keep the money and have to pay interest to the ward members. Normally, when people do something big and need money, they pick it up. Otherwise, the ward chief keeps it and pays interest,” Ms. Sy said.

Ms. Tran Thi Sy, one of the victims of the ward collapse. Photo: Tien Hung

More than a month ago, some ward members needed money and it was their turn to collect it but they could not contact Mr. Dong. Seeing the ward member carrying his belongings out of the house, thinking that Mr. Dong had run away with the money, dozens of people immediately surrounded the house.

“When we arrived, the ward owner’s wife and younger siblings said they didn’t know where Mr. Dong was and didn’t have the money to pay. Afraid of losing all their money like in previous cases of hui collapses, people demanded to take their assets to pay off the debt,” said Mr. Phan Van Thuc (resident of Dong Phu hamlet, Khanh Thanh commune) - the person who accused the ward owner of owing more than 200 million.

Like many other people, Mr. Thuc at that time had to accept taking some of Mr. Dong and his wife's assets to pay off debt such as washing machines, televisions, air conditioners..., even though these assets were valued much higher than their actual value by the ward owner's family.

Like the old washing machine, according to Mr. Thuc, if he bought a new one, it would only cost 4.2 million VND, but because of debt, he had to accept the price of 6 million VND to salvage it. The old assets that Mr. Thuc brought back were recorded in a book, signed by the ward chief's two younger brothers with a total price of 55 million VND.

“If you buy a new motorbike, it would only cost about 18 million VND, but the ward chief’s relatives are asking for 27 million VND if they want to pay off the debt. The people are at a disadvantage, but because they are afraid of losing all their money, they have to accept that price,” said Ms. Phan Thi Oanh (50 years old).

However, not everyone can get their property back, because the property in the ward owner's house is not worth enough billions to be able to pay off the debt to the people. Meanwhile, not long after her husband "disappeared", his wife has also left the area.

Mr. Nguyen Dao Quy - Chairman of Khanh Thanh Commune People's Committee said that a resident has come to the commune to report the incident. "We do not know where the ward owners and their wives are now," Mr. Quy said, adding that the local government has repeatedly warned about the situation of the hui ward, but people remain indifferent.

Temporarily detain the owner of a savings and credit association that embezzled billions of dong in Nghe An

(Baonghean.vn) - Initially, the investigation agency accused Ms. Oanh of defrauding and appropriating more than 2.3 billion VND from 36 ward members.

Hundreds of billions of dong "disappeared" with the owner of the savings and credit association

Located right next to Khanh Thanh commune, according to statistics from Bao Thanh commune police, in just over 2 years, in this commune, there have been 5 cases of broken hui and black credit with the amount of hundreds of billions of dong. In which, the biggest case is the black credit collapse of Phuc Nhien Gold and Silver Private Enterprise with an estimated amount of up to 70 billion dong.

Having worked as the commune police chief for more than 10 years, and now the Chief of Office of Bao Thanh commune, Mr. Vo Trong Nguyen said that this commune is like a center of the hui ward in Yen Thanh!

Naming the names of the owners of the hui and black credit clubs that have collapsed, some of whom have now fled abroad, Mr. Nguyen said that the continuous collapse of hui clubs began to occur around the beginning of 2016. Not long after the Phuc Nhien gold shop declared bankruptcy, the Loan Da gold shop owned by Mr. Tran Van Da, located a few dozen meters away, also suddenly announced its bankruptcy.

“The couple then fled abroad. The amount of money is estimated at 30 billion VND. People now do not know who to report, while the couple still sends money back to their parents to build a house,” said Mr. Nguyen.

In October 2016, a teacher who was teaching in Bao Thanh commune committed suicide because he was in debt due to a savings and credit association. Since the death of this teacher, a series of bankrupt savings and credit association cases in the southern communes of Yen Thanh district began to break out.

“In some cases, the ward owners really went bankrupt, but in my opinion, most of them used the excuse to embezzle money. For example, in the case of Phuc Nhien gold shop, after declaring bankruptcy, they hid all the gold and silver worth more than 10 billion VND. The land and houses were transferred to relatives before that,” said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Chung, Chairman of Bao Thanh Commune People’s Committee.

According to research, there is a ward owner in Bao Thanh commune who owns a plot of land with an actual current value of only over 500 million VND. However, after this person spread the news that the ward was bankrupt and could no longer pay, the people, fearing that the ward owner would flee and lose all their money, had to accept the debt at a price of nearly 2 billion VND...

Not only in Bao Thanh and Khanh Thanh, hundreds of households in other neighboring communes such as Son Thanh, Vien Thanh, Cong Thanh… are also in dire straits because ward chiefs and black credit owners suddenly declared bankruptcy. Meanwhile, local authorities are also concerned about the security and order situation in the area when people continuously gather in large numbers to demand money./.