Female director sentenced to life in prison for fraud

(Baonghean.vn) -Using the trick of mobilizing capital to invest in a million-dollar real estate project in Cua Lo town, Nguyen Thanh Thuy defrauded and appropriated more than 73 billion VND from 11 people and then fled.

On June 14, Nghe An Provincial Court sentenced Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy (born in 1960), residing in Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city, Director of Kim Lien Trade and Tourism Company, to life in prison for fraud and property appropriation.

Thuy's accomplice, Ho Thi Nang (born in 1972), residing in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city, was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

Thuy, Nang at trial

The investigation process clarified that in 2008, Thuy established Thuy Chung Company, the main business was real estate trading and interior design. In 2009, Thuy changed the company name to Kim Lien Trading and Tourism Joint Stock Company, changed the charter capital and shareholders.

Despite not having financial capacity or management skills, when she saw that Vinh city and surrounding areas were experiencing a land fever, Thuy asked someone to create a fake company profile and falsely declared that the company had a capital of 181 billion VND deposited in a bank. With these documents, Thuy used them to approach a villa and resort project in Cua Lo town.

After having the documents related to the investment research of this project, Thuy called on many people, mainly those she knew, who had financial potential in the real estate business, to contribute capital and invest in the project with the commitment to divide the shares into high-class villas at preferential prices.

To gain the trust of the debtors, Thuy made fake contracts and wrote guarantees with the red seal of the company of which she was the director. The nature of these capital contribution contracts was loan agreements with interest rates of 5-7 thousand VND/million/day.

In just a short time, 11 people gave Thuy money, the most was nearly 40 billion VND, the least was nearly 1 billion VND.

Ho Thi Nang is Thuy's business partner. In most of these loan contracts, Nang is the witness. In one loan of nearly 1 billion VND, because the lender required Nang to sign a receipt before lending Thuy the money, Nang did as she was told.

In 2011, when the real estate bubble in Vinh City burst, debtors knew that Thuy had no financial capacity and could not access the project as advertised, so they came to collect money and collect debts. At this time, Thuy and Nang had already fled. On the way to Bac Ninh, the duo continued to set up a fraud trap by setting up a project to export medicinal herbs to mobilize capital from the people. In early 2012, the duo was arrested by the police in Bac Giang.

At the trial and during the investigation, Thuy could not prove what the more than 73 billion VND and 1 tael of gold that she had appropriated were used for, but only generally admitted that they were used to run projects, pay interest, etc.

The trial panel determined that Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy was the mastermind of the case, Ho Thi Nang was an accomplice in Thuy's actions, and must be responsible for the fraud of nearly 1 billion VND.

Nguyen Khoa