A woman from Nghe An lost more than half a billion because she believed the former police officer's job scam.
The former police officer boasted of having connections in the industry, being able to apply for a job at a state agency to defraud and appropriate assets of many victims up to billions of dong, of which the highest amount was 670 million dong from a woman from Nghe An.
On April 4, the Hanoi People's Court opened the first instance trial of Mai Van Hien (born in 1966, residing in Xuan Dinh ward, Bac Tu Liem, Hanoi), To Ky Thieu (born in 1981, residing in Vinh Tuong, Vinh Phuc) for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property under Point a, Clause 4, Article 139 of the Penal Code.
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| The defendants at the first instance trial. |
Even though he had retired from the police force, to have money, Hien still introduced himself to his acquaintances as working at the Guard Command - Ministry of Public Security. His wife was working at the Ministry of Public Security, so he had many relationships and could get many people into the police force and state agencies.
To make the victims believe and hand over money, by the above trick, from May 2013 to December 2014, Hien appropriated a total of about 1.6 billion VND from 3 victims and appropriated 670 million VND from Tran Thi Dung (Nghe An) and 230 million VND from Phung Thi Dung (Hoa Binh) for personal expenses. Hien has only recovered about 500 million VND for the victims.
To Ky Thieu committed fraud and appropriated 230 million VND from Tran Van Thoang (Hai Phong) and was an accomplice with Mai Van Hien in defrauding Tran Thi Dung of 370 million VND. After that, Thieu was able to compensate the victim Dung about 50 million VND.
At the investigation agency as well as at today's trial, the defendants confessed to the incident as stated in the indictment. Based on the documents and evidence in the case file, the court of first instance found sufficient grounds to conclude that the defendants' actions constituted the crime of Fraudulent Appropriation of Property.
The first instance jury found that the defendants’ criminal acts were particularly serious, directly infringing on citizens’ property and causing public outrage. The defendants took advantage of the trust of job seekers to defraud many victims of finding jobs. After receiving the money, the defendants did nothing to help them apply for school as promised, but spent it for personal use.
Therefore, the Procuracy's prosecution of the defendants for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property under Point a, Clause 4, Article 139 is well-founded.
Defendant Mai Van Hien committed crimes many times, so it is necessary to have a strict punishment to deter, educate criminals as well as prevent in general.
However, when deciding on the penalty, the court of first instance found that the defendants had honestly confessed part of their crimes, had no criminal record, and had partially compensated the victims.
The People's Court sentenced Mai Van Hien to 14 years in prison and To Ky Thieu to 11 years in prison and forced the defendants to return the money they had embezzled to the victims./.
