Gas station fraudster sentenced to prison
After a two-day trial, on the afternoon of February 21, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced the group of defendants in the gasoline fraud case that occurred two years ago at the Tran Khat Chan Gas Station (at 436 Tran Khat Chan, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi).
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| Authorities recorded a gas station with a fraudulent chip. (Photo: VNA) |
In this case, 16 defendants must appear in court for the same crime of "Deceiving customers" as prescribed in Article 162 of the Penal Code.
Accordingly, the defendant who played the biggest role in the case was Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh (born in 1966, former Store Manager of Tran Khat Chan Gas Station, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi) who was sentenced by the Court to 30 months in prison for the crime of "Deceiving customers."
The court sentenced the two defendants Tran Thanh Trinh and Nguyen Manh Ha (both former employees of Tran Khat Chan Gas Station) to 36 months in prison; the defendant Ho Trong Tuan (former Head of Market Department, Hanoi Petroleum Joint Stock Company) to 24 months in prison; the 6 defendants Do Thi Luong Ha, Tran Thi Minh Thu, Truong Quoc Cuong, Nguyen Cong Trung, Luong Thi Van, Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong (all former employees of Tran Khat Chan Gas Station) to 24 months in prison; the 6 defendants Do Thi Luong Ha, Tran Thi Minh Thu, Truong Quoc Cuong, Nguyen Cong Trung, Luong Thi Van, Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong (all former employees of Tran Khat Chan Gas Station) to 24 months in prison; the defendant Bui Thi Mai Linh (former employee of Tran Khat Chan Gas Station) to 20 months in prison; the defendant Le Duc Phong (former Director of Thang Long Petroleum Equipment Limited Liability Company) and Ngo Tuan Anh (born in 1981, residing in Duc Giang ward, Long Bien district, Hanoi).
The remaining three defendants, including Nguyen Ba Tung, Hoang Nghia Quan (all former employees of Tran Khat Chan Gas Station) and Ngo Duc Toan (born in 1979, former Director of Anh Phat Petroleum Equipment Limited Liability Company), were fined from 20 to 30 million VND for the same crime mentioned above.
The case was discovered on December 14, 2015, when the Economic Security Department (PA 81) - Hanoi City Police coordinated with Market Management Team No. 14, Hanoi Market Management Department to inspect Tran Khat Chan Gas Station and discovered that the gas and oil pumps at this store were using foreign devices (electronic chips) attached to the gas pumps.
Through investigation, the authorities determined that Tran Khat Chan petrol station is under the management of Hanoi Petroleum Joint Stock Company, with Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh as Store Manager.
During the working process with Tran Thanh Trinh and Nguyen Manh Ha, it was known that if electronic chips were attached to the gas pumps, when the electronic chips were active, the actual amount of gasoline pumped for customers would be reduced compared to the amount of gasoline that customers purchased. So, with the purpose of making money, at the end of April 2014, Trinh and Ha discussed and asked Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh for permission to install electronic chips on the gas pumps to collect money from customers. After receiving Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh's consent, Tran Thanh Trinh and Nguyen Manh Ha discussed and agreed that each employee in their management shift would contribute 7 million VND to buy electronic chips to be attached to the gas pumps to cheat on gasoline when pumping for customers.
To avoid detection, former Store Manager of Tran Khat Chan Gas Station, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, and her accomplice asked Ngo Tuan Anh to increase the sophistication of the electronic chip from using a switch to remote control.
As for the defendants Ho Trong Tuan, Ngo Duc Phong and Ngo Duc Toan, although they clearly knew that the group led by Hanh had asked them to buy electronic chips for commercial fraud, they still actively assisted by directly purchasing 3 sets of fraudulent devices to be attached to gas pumps number 2, 4 and 5 at Tran Khat Chan gas station.
In total, from the end of April 2014 to December 24, 2015 (the time the crime was caught red-handed), with the fixed rate of "pumping under" 5% of gasoline for customers, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh and 11 employees of Tran Khat Chan Gas Station "pickpocketed" more than 1.5 billion VND from tens of thousands of customers who came to pump gasoline here. Thereby, the subjects illegally appropriated from 18 million VND to 200 million VND.
Therefore, in addition to the prison sentence, the Court also ordered that all the money the defendants illegally earned will be confiscated and turned over to the State budget./.
According to vietnamplus
