Group of former leaders of a credit fund in Nghe An sentenced for creating fake loan documents

After many days of deliberation, on the morning of May 11, the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced 9 defendants in the case of "Violating regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions" occurring at the People's Credit Fund (PCF) of Yen Thanh town (Yen Thanh district, Nghe An).

The defendants brought to trial include Phan Tien Hieu (born 1971, Chairman of the Board of Directors), Phan Viet Anh (born 1971, Director) and Hoang Dinh Hai (born 1977, Deputy Director).

5 other people are appraisal, accounting and control officers.prosecutethe same crime as above with the role of aiding. The Fund's treasurer was prosecuted for the crime of "Violation of banking activities and other activities related to banking activities".

According to the investigation agency's documents, Yen Thanh Town People's Credit Fund was established and put into operation in October 1996, licensed to operate in the credit sector including: Receiving deposits from organizations and individuals; receiving deposits and lending to other credit institutions according to the regulations of the State Bank; lending to members and poor households who are not members in the area of ​​operation; contributing capital, accepting trust...

A group of former leaders of the People's Credit Fund and their subordinates received sentences. Photo: Tran Vu

In 2017, the Fund's business activities showed signs of loss, and bad debts increased. In order to restructure the organization and operations, avoiding inspection and supervision by the State Bank, the above subjects agreed to direct subordinates to create fake loan documents to disburse bad debts.

During this time, a loan application under Hieu's wife's name was falsely created and approved for a loan of 2 billion VND. Nearly 1.7 billion VND from this loan was used to pay off debts for 5 customers classified as bad debt. The remaining 300 million VND was used by Hieu to pay off personal debts...

Next, the Fund's leaders and employees continued to create a fake loan application under the name of Hai's wife and received a disbursement of more than 1.4 billion VND. The entire amount was then used to pay off the loans of 5 other customers classified as bad debts.

By 2018, the business situation did not improve, and the subjects continued to use the same tricks. This time, Viet Anh directed his subordinates to create fake loan documents under his mother's name and received a disbursement of 2.5 billion VND.

Nearly 1.4 billion VND of this was used to pay off loans for 5 customers classified as bad debts. The remaining 1.1 billion VND was used by Viet Anh to pay off debts and interest on a fake loan application of 850 million VND previously created under his mother's name; to refund salaries from 2007 - 2011 in the amount of more than 122 million VND and to pocket more than 123 million VND for personal expenses.

On June 26, 2018, the State Bank of Vietnam Nghe An Branch Inspection Team discovered violations in the loan under the name of Viet Anh's mother. The Fund Director immediately directed his subordinates to create fake loan documents under his wife's name to borrow 2.5 billion VND to pay off the loan documents under his biological mother's name.

On October 4, 2019, Viet Anh was arrested. On February 13, 2020, Hieu and Hai's actions were also exposed.

The investigation agency determined that all 4 loan applications mentioned above had forged borrowers' signatures, and did not assess the mortgaged assets or the borrowers' ability to repay the loan... The implementation of the 4 loan applications and loan disbursement violated credit regulations, causing losses to the Yen Thanh Town People's Credit Fund of more than 5.7 billion VND.

At the trial, the defendants admitted to their crimes. The Fund's management board stated that due to difficult circumstances, they created fake documents and borrowed money to pay off bad debts. Other defendants such as the appraisers, accountants, and controllers stated that in this case they all acted under the direction of the board of directors.

The panel of judges determined that in this case, the defendants Hieu, Viet Anh and Hai committed the crime as masterminds, and their actions were especially dangerous, so they needed to be severely punished.

Considering the role of each defendant, the panel sentenced Phan Tien Hieu to 5 years in prison, Phan Viet Anh to 3 years in prison, and defendant Hoang Dinh Hai to 30 months in prison with a suspended sentence. The remaining defendants were sentenced to between 12 and 24 months in prison with a suspended sentence.