Nghe An: Dozens of people lost nearly 50 billion VND because they believed a woman had no job

Both creditor and debtor

For many months now, the family of Mr. Nguyen Vinh Tam (residing in Cong Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) has had to regularly receive strange visitors. Strangely, the people who come here do not come to buy gold, silver, or motorbikes, but to reclaim the money they deposited in the gold shop owned by Mr. Tam and his wife.

Tam Nham gold shop often has many strange young men come to collect debts. Photo: Pham Bang

“Many young men were hired to come here to collect money. They cursed, shouted, spat and said I was a swindler. But my family had to sell land, cars, and mortgage the red book to pay more than 21 billion VND to the people. The rest had to resort to the law because we were both creditors and debtors. I was so desperate that I had to send a petition to Nghe An Newspaper to ask for public opinion,” Mr. Tam said bitterly.

More than 2 years ago, Mrs. Dau Thi Nham (Mr. Tam's wife) secretly started participating in the hui association. In addition to the money that people from neighboring communes deposited in the gold shop, Mrs. Nham also used her family's savings to lend to Pham Thi Thuong (42 years old, resident of Hamlet 6, Lien Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District).

“On October 14, 2016, I lent Thuong 1.9 billion VND and 3.67 billion VND in ward money that Thuong borrowed from my husband and I. The total amount that Thuong borrowed from my family was 5.57 billion VND with a repayment period of 1 month. Thuong mortgaged a land use right certificate in the name of Thuong and her husband, saying that the value of the land plot was more than 2 billion VND. That's why I dared to lend Thuong,” said Ms. Nham.

Mr. Nguyen Vinh Tam and Mrs. Tran Thi Oanh had to bear the debt when Thuong left the locality. Photo: Tien Hung

Not only lending money to Thuong, Mrs. Nham's family also lent money to dozens of other people, a total of nearly 30 billion VND. Those who borrowed money from Mrs. Nham continued to lend money to Pham Thi Thuong. All the money poured into this woman's "oi". Thuong is considered the biggest "debtor" in Yen Thanh district at the present time.

Suddenly, in October 2016, Thuong declared bankruptcy, unable to pay. Mrs. Nham and dozens of other people rushed to Thuong's house to collect the debt, only to discover that the house where Thuong had lived for a long time had been transferred to his brothers, and the 7-seat car had also been sold. The land that Thuong had mortgaged to Mrs. Nham was only worth a few tens of millions of dong. Thuong and her husband built two small houses on the land her husband's parents gave them and did not care about paying the debt.

Since Thuong declared bankruptcy, the family of Nguyen Dinh Hinh (49 years old, residing in Bao Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) was "shocked". Hinh and his wife, Vu Thi Tuyet (46 years old), after many years of working in Russia, had saved a little money. Because they had known each other before, Thuong came to ask for a loan, Hinh did not hesitate to give all the money in the house, borrowed from his brothers and sisters to "give" to Thuong.

He trusted him so much that he even took his family's land use right certificate and borrowed nearly 2 billion VND and gave it to Thuong. At one point, in just 1 week, Thuong borrowed 1 billion VND from his family. The total amount that Hinh's family lent Thuong was 3.4 billion VND.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hinh's family talks with Nghe An Newspaper reporters. Photo: Pham Bang

When he heard Thuong say she was bankrupt, Mr. Hinh did not believe it because he did not participate in the hui. His wife was so heartbroken, and under pressure from many gangsters coming to collect the debt, she had a stroke and had to stay in the hospital for 8 months. "Now my wife is out of the hospital but her mental state is unstable, sometimes she remembers, sometimes she forgets, living like a vegetable," Mr. Hinh said, adding that he had to sell his car and land to pay 530 million VND and still owes more than 2 billion VND.

According to the summary of Mr. Tam's family, the total amount of money that Thuong borrowed and held from the people was about 50 billion VND. For example, Mr. Tam's family was nearly 6 billion VND, Ms. Tran Thi Oanh's family (crossroads, Cong Thanh commune) was 5.6 billion VND; Ms. Dang Thi Binh's family (village 7, Lien Thanh commune) was 5.5 billion VND; Ms. Pham Thi Quy's family (village 22, Lien Thanh commune) was 3.7 billion VND... The person who lent Thuong at least 800 million VND.

“No one knows what Thuong borrowed the large sum of money for. When asked, Thuong did not say. Since Thuong did not lend money to anyone, we think that Thuong used that money to go to Ho Chi Minh City to buy land and houses to dispose of assets,” said Ms. Oanh, one of the people who lent Thuong money, adding that she also borrowed 1.4 billion VND from Mr. Tam’s family and then lent it back to Thuong.

Among those who borrowed money from Mr. Nguyen Vinh Tam is Ms. Dang Thi Quyen - currently the President of the Women's Union of Cong Thanh commune. Ms. Quyen borrowed 2.3 billion VND from Mr. Tam's family but has only paid back 300 million VND so far.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hong - Secretary of the Cong Thanh Commune Party Committee, Ms. Quyen said she borrowed money from Mr. Tam for her nephew to trade in illegal timber, but was later arrested and has not been able to repay the debt. The Organizing Committee of Yen Thanh District Party Committee and the Cong Thanh Commune Party Committee organized a meeting with both sides, but later did not decide on a form of punishment for Ms. Quyen.

Confusing answer…

Unable to directly claim the money back from Thuong, Mr. Tam's family and many other households have submitted petitions to many places, hoping for active intervention from the authorities. "We sent petitions to the Ministry of Public Security, Nghe An Provincial Police and all were forwarded to Yen Thanh District Police for resolution. But the way Yen Thanh District Police responded to the people made us extremely confused," Mr. Tam said.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hinh is worried because he doesn't know where to get money to pay off his debt. Photo: Tien Hung

The notice of the results of the petition settlement dated April 15, 2017 of the Yen Thanh District Police stated that the dispute over the hui between Ms. Dau Thi Nham and Ms. Pham Thi Thuong is a civil dispute, the jurisdiction of which belongs to the Yen Thanh District People's Court according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Law. We request Ms. Nham to write a petition to the Yen Thanh District People's Court.

Yen Thanh District Police also said that Ms. Thuong's debt of 1.9 billion VND to Ms. Nham was correct, but it has not yet been proven whether Ms. Thuong committed a crime or not. "The Yen Thanh District Police Investigation Agency has temporarily stopped verifying the crime report according to regulations. When there is new basis and documents, the Yen Thanh District Police Investigation Agency will continue to investigate and verify," the announcement stated.

According to the reporter's investigation, after declaring bankruptcy, Thuong had no plan to repay her debt to the people. Thuong also did not have a stable job, had to raise 3 small children, Thuong's husband also worked for hire and could not prove the "output" of the borrowed money. In addition, according to the people, Thuong is currently not present in the locality, some sources even said that Thuong went to Ho Chi Minh City to buy a house and land.

Pham Thi Thuong's family's house is always closed after declaring bankruptcy. Photo: Tien Hung

Believing that Thuong's behavior showed signs of the crime of abusing trust to appropriate property, people continued to send petitions to the authorities. At the beginning of October 2018, Yen Thanh District Police, after receiving the petition from the people and conducting verification, said that Pham Thi Thuong was not currently present in the locality, so "There is no basis to restore the verification of the crime report.".

People analyzed that Pham Thi Thuong's act of borrowing money to appropriate was clear because Thuong could not prove what she would use the borrowed money for. Thuong also had no ability to pay back the borrowed money because Thuong had intended to appropriate it beforehand. Thuong also used deceitful tricks by providing false information by tricking Mr. Tam and his wife into mortgaging a plot of land worth more than 2 billion VND but actually worth only a few tens of millions VND to borrow 1.9 billion VND.

The land use right certificate of Thuong and his wife was mortgaged when borrowing 1.9 billion VND from Mr. Tam's family. Photo: Pham Bang

When the police went to verify the petition, Thuong was not present in the locality, which means there were signs of absconding. These were the grounds to determine that Thuong had signs of committing the crime of abusing trust to appropriate property. Therefore, the people said that the response of the Yen Thanh District Police that "it has not been proven whether Ms. Thuong committed a crime or not" was unsatisfactory.

When Nghe An Newspaper reporters brought up the people's questions, Lieutenant Colonel Pham Ngoc Canh - Head of Yen Thanh District Police said that the police also wanted to arrest and prosecute, but the cases of hui and signs of crime could not be handled because they were civil matters. After that, Lieutenant Colonel Canh was busy and did not answer more specifically.