Former official sentenced to life imprisonment for defrauding nearly 24 billion VND.

(Baonghean)Tran Thi Ngoc Ha, residing in Block 3, Truong Thi Ward (Vinh City), took advantage of her position and connections, using various schemes such as borrowing money at high interest rates, refinancing bank loans, and other fraudulent acts to embezzle 23.88 billion VND from 13 victims over more than 4 years. The defendant's actions constitute the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property," punishable by life imprisonment.

The courtroom where the trial took place attracted hundreds of people. They came not only as victims of the case but also as relatives, neighbors, and even teachers of the defendant's children. Among them were those with comfortable lives, but also many poor, low-income workers. Believing Ha's sweet words and driven by greed for high returns, they readily handed over all their assets—money, land, houses—to Ha without suspicion. Furthermore, some who had no money themselves borrowed from relatives out of obligation to give to Ha.

Tran Thi Ngoc Ha in court

The defendant confessed to embezzling 3.8 billion VND from Mr. PA (Block 9, Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City) through an intermediary. Knowing that her child's teacher, Ms. HTTH (a teacher at a primary school in Vinh City), had a close relationship with Mr. PA, she asked Ms. H to call Mr. PA to borrow money. On June 1, 2011, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha met with Mr. PA, saying she needed capital for her business and asked to borrow 1.5 billion VND with an interest rate of 3,000 VND per million VND per day, promising to repay the full amount after one month. Not only did she fail to repay the money, but on September 13, 2011, she asked Ms. H to call Mr. PA again to borrow an additional 230 million VND, promising to repay the full amount by the beginning of November. By the time of her arrest, Ha had borrowed a total of 3.8 billion VND from Mr. PA.

Not only did Tran Thi Ngoc Ha swindle relatives and neighbors, but she also deceived her closest friend, someone she had been close to since childhood. Knowing that Ms. VL (Le Mao Ward, Vinh City) was preparing to build a house, Ha sought her out on February 28, 2011. Using the pretext of needing money to refinance a bank loan, Ms. VL, despite not having a large sum of money, still managed to borrow 1 billion VND from relatives to lend to Ha. When the repayment deadline arrived, Ha used the same trick, borrowing an additional 230 million VND. Because of her trust in her friend, Ms. VL's plan to build a house remains far from fulfilled, as she is still burdened with repaying the debt she lent to her close friend.

In the fraud case against victim LTH, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha confessed that between June 2011 and October 2011, the amount of money she embezzled from Ms. H was not just 1 billion 050 million VND, but 6 billion VND. Because she didn't have the money to repay the debt when it was due, Ha resorted to defrauding others to get money to repay Ms. H and many related creditors. Knowing that Ms. NTC (Nghi Hoa ward, Cua Lo town) desperately needed money for her child to go abroad, she sought her out and offered to help.

Here, Ha suggested that Ms. C hand over the land use right certificate No. Q-215974, registered in Ms. C's husband's name, so that Ha could mortgage it at the bank to borrow money for Ms. C. On September 17, 2011, Ha deceived Ms. C into authorizing Tran Thi Ngoc Ha to transfer the land use right certificate to her. After obtaining the certificate, she did not fulfill her promise but instead took it to Ms. LTH (representative of Khanh An Co., Ltd., headquartered in Vinh City) to mortgage it for a loan of 2 billion VND at the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vinh City branch). She used part of the embezzled money to repay Ms. H and for personal expenses.

When the presiding judge asked why she lent the defendant such a large sum of money, Ms. H replied that she and the defendant were related, with the defendant calling Ms. H "aunt." Ms. H's family was wealthy and held many land use right certificates belonging to numerous people. Furthermore, Ms. H was a provincial police officer; with that profession, she understood the law and her actions better than anyone else.

Unlike Ms. H's perspective, Ms. NTC was just an ordinary farmer whose husband had died early, leaving her family in difficult circumstances. She was also poorly educated and had limited understanding of the law, so when questioned, she could only lament and complain about her naivety. Ms. NTC learned about Tran Thi Ngoc Ha, a provincial police officer, through a neighbor. To raise a large sum of money for her child to work abroad, Ms. C had to borrow money from everywhere, but each place refused, or if they did lend, it was less than 10 million dong (because she was past working age). In this difficult situation, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha appeared and offered help. Thinking she had found a "benefactor," Ms. C handed over her land use right certificate to Ha without hesitation or suspicion.

When Ha suggested they go to the bank together to sign the loan confirmation document, she didn't read the pre-written loan agreement. "I signed wherever Ms. Ha told me to, and put my fingerprint wherever she told me to. To this day, I haven't received a single penny from the bank. I never imagined that the land I live on could be mortgaged to borrow such a large sum of money. Now I don't know where to find that large sum to get my land back," Ms. C lamented.

Ha confessed that her repeated fraudulent acts stemmed from her large debts, with daily interest payments sometimes reaching tens of millions of dong. When she could no longer repay, numerous creditors flocked to her office to demand payment. Cornered, she targeted anyone she could deceive to get the money to pay off her debts. Many victims saw their land use right certificates, only to find them in the hands of other victims. The vicious cycle created by Ha drove dozens of people to desperation, with no way out. Some became homeless, forced to stand on the streets, while others lived in hiding, hoping to save money to pay off Ha's debts. Most tragically, the children were left without a home with both parents…

Standing before the dock, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha did not prevaricate or make excuses, but confessed to all her actions. When she heard the prosecutor's statement and the proposed life sentence, she tried to reach for the railing. She cried profusely because she had an elderly mother with heart disease, two young children, and a whole future ahead of her. If only, in the past, Ha had thought about these issues, valued her career, known not to exploit others' trust, and known when to stop, perhaps she wouldn't have to pay such a heavy price now. She was only in her early 30s, had a stable career, a family, and children… A life that many people would envy. Yet, because of greed, self-interest, and personal calculations, she sacrificed everything.

After several trials, on the morning of August 23, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court sentenced defendant Tran Thi Ngoc Ha to life imprisonment for "fraudulent appropriation of property." The court also ordered the defendant and her husband, Nguyen Truong Trung, to jointly compensate 14 victims with 23 billion 883 million VND. The trial concluded, but the anxiety and worry of dozens of victims have not yet ended. The amount of money they lent to Ha was substantial, a sum some of which they could never earn in a lifetime.

Ha's sentence and her large debts serve as a lesson for those who are naive, lack legal knowledge, and are driven by short-term profits, forgetting that money earned through intellect, sweat, and even tears is the only truly clean and sustainable source of income.

Doan Thi Hoang