Another billion-dong savings and loan 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 "movements" of the homeowner.

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

This is the latest hui collapse incident to occur 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 separated by about a month," 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 in other neighboring communes.

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

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

“In addition to my daughter’s money, I also paid the ward fee for a younger sibling. In total, I paid 5 ward fees each month, each fee was 2 million VND, with an interest of 500,000 VND,” said Ms. Sy.

In each ward, when it is his turn to draw, Mr. Dong receives 500,000 VND. “If it is his turn and no one draws, 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 draw, otherwise the ward chief keeps it and pays interest,” Ms. Sy said.

Ms. Tran Thi Sy, one of the victims of the broken ward. 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 chief’s wife and younger siblings said they didn’t know where Mr. Dong was and had no money to pay. Afraid of losing all their money like in previous hui collapses, the people demanded to take their property to pay off the debt,” said Phan Van Thuc (resident of Dong Phu hamlet, Khanh Thanh commune) - the person who accused the ward chief of owing more than 200 million.

Like many other people, Mr. Thuc at that time had to accept taking some of Mr. Dong's and his wife's assets to pay off the debt, such as washing machines, televisions, air conditioners, etc., even though these assets were valued much higher than their actual value by the ward chief'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 by the ward chief's two younger brothers, signed 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 huge 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 items in the ward owner’s house are 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 made public the situation of the hui ward, but the 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, this commune has had 5 cases of hui and black credit collapse with the amount of hundreds of billions of VND. In which, the biggest case was the black credit collapse of Phuc Nhien Gold and Silver Private Enterprise with an estimated amount of up to 70 billion VND.

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 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 and illegal credit in the southern communes of Yen Thanh district have begun to erupt.

“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 as people continuously gather in large numbers to demand money./.