Female commune vice president embezzled 14 billion VND from the people

By fraudulently asking to borrow money to lend to others to pay off bank debts, Thuy appropriated a total of about 14 billion VND from 16 victims.

On March 22, at the end of the first instance trial, the People's Court of Dong Thap province sentenced defendant Pham Thi Diem Thuy (born in 1981, residing in My An Hung A commune, Lap Vo district, Dong Thap province) to 16 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

Defendant Pham Thi Diem Thuy in court.

The case shows that Thuy was formerly the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of My An Hung A Commune, Lap Vo District. In 2006, Thuy bought a house for 220 million VND, then built a level 4 house to live in. Because she had no money, Thuy collected savings and borrowed money from relatives to buy land and build a house.

However, because her monthly salary was only about 4 million VND, Thuy had to borrow money from the bank and many people in and outside the commune at high interest rates to pay off her debts and contribute to the savings and credit association. By the end of 2013, Thuy owed nearly 1.3 billion VND and was completely unable to pay.

To hide her inability to pay and maintain her reputation as a commune vice chairman, since 2014, Thuy has taken advantage of her position to borrow money from many people to pay off her personal debts and to pay off her debts. When borrowing money, to gain the trust of the lenders, Thuy lied that she was borrowing to lend to others to repay the bank in a few days, or gave them land use right certificates as collateral. Thuy even accepted to borrow at very high interest rates of 9-15%/month, so many people agreed to lend her money.

At the trial, defendant Thuy admitted that she did not lend money to anyone to pay off bank debts, but that Thuy used the entire amount of money to pay off debts. However, because she borrowed from one person and then paid another or paid in rotation over a long period of time, the debt increased. By August 26, 2015, because she could no longer borrow, Thuy had no money to pay interest to those who had borrowed. Knowing that she could no longer conceal her crime, Thuy went to the Lap Vo District Police to confess.

The investigation results proved that by fraudulently asking to borrow money to lend to others to pay off bank debts, Thuy appropriated a total of about 14 billion VND from 16 victims.

According to Lao Dong