'Exposing' the director of fraud in sending people to work abroad in Nghe An

On June 25, the People's Court of Nghe An province held the first instance trial of the case of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" against defendant Phan Dinh Chinh (born 1976), residing in Bao Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, Nghe An).

Born into a poor family, Phan Dinh Chinh always had the intention of getting rich to change his life. At the end of 2015, the people of Bao Thanh commune were amazed to see Phan Dinh Chinh establish Cuong Viet Bac LLC. In addition, the company also has a branch in Dien Trung commune, Dien Chau district, Nghe An.

Defendant Phan Dinh Chinh at trial. Photo: An Quynh.

The company was licensed by the Department of Planning and Investment with the main business lines being consulting, introducing and brokering labor and employment. Although it does not have the function of recruiting workers to go abroad and knows that it is not capable of sending them, Chinh still calmly posted advertisements and information committing to sending people to work in Korea, Germany and the Czech Republic.

With a perfect cover and extremely sophisticated tricks, from May 2016 to February 2018, Chinh defrauded 4 people with a total amount of nearly 700 million VND.

One of Chinh's first business deals was in early June 2016. Because he knew Mr. Nguyen B (born in 1952), residing in Hamlet 4, Dien Hanh Commune, Dien Chau District, Chinh said that if any of his relatives could be brought there, he would help complete the documents and then export them to Korea. With his trust in Chinh, Mr. B. did not hesitate to confide that he had a relative who wanted to go to Korea to work but did not know the procedures.

Knowing this was a lucrative prey, although he knew for sure he could not take the person, Chinh still committed to having a 6-month work contract in Korea with a starting salary of 36 million VND/month but had to deposit 1,000 USD to prepare the documents.

Around the beginning of July, Phan Dinh Chinh contacted Mr. Nguyen B again to discuss the procedures and the cost of 15,000 USD to bring B's family to Korea. Mr. B immediately agreed and paid in advance 2,000 USD.

To gain trust, Chinh registered Mr. B's family for a Korean language course organized by Nghe An Import-Export and Labor Supply Joint Stock Company. With that reason, Chinh asked the victim's family to pay enough money to take care of the expenses. However, at the trial, Chinh admitted that he used the remaining money after paying for the victim's tuition for personal expenses. The total amount of money he defrauded Mr. Nguyen B's family was more than 300 million VND.

With the same trick as above, Phan Dinh Chinh defrauded and appropriated from Mr. Phan Xuan T (Dien Hanh), Mr. Le Van B (Dien Trung), Mr. Nguyen Xuan D (Dien Ngoc), all residing in Dien Chau, with a total amount of money appropriated up to 627 million VND.

Each victim’s family, just because they wanted to have a better economy, borrowed money to give to Chinh, hoping that their relatives would have stable jobs in a foreign country. At the trial, the victims asked the jury to judge the right person, the right crime, the right law, and at the same time have a form for the defendant to quickly compensate the family for the damage.

Regarding the personal background of the defendant Phan Dinh Chinh, he was once prosecuted by the Investigation Police Department of Dong Hoi city, Quang Binh province for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" with a sentence of 4 years in prison.

The panel decided that because the amount of money Chinh had appropriated from the victims was relatively large, the case was of a particularly serious nature, however, the defendant had repented and reformed, Pham Dinh Chinh was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". Considering the previous sentence, the total sentence that Chinh must serve is 16 years in prison. At the same time, he must be responsible for compensating for damages with the amount of money requested by the victims.