'Super swindler' pretends to be army colonel to escape arrest warrant

After his accomplices were caught, a "super swindler" forged many documents, bought military uniforms, and pretended to be a military officer with the rank of colonel to escape arrest.

On May 14, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department announced that it had just completed the investigation conclusion and transferred the case file to the People's Procuracy of the same level, proposing to prosecute Le Thanh Hung (born in 1969, from Kien Giang) for two crimes of "Acting as a bribery broker" and "Forging seals and documents of agencies and organizations".

Through the introduction of friends, Tran Phi Long (born in 1983) got to know Nguyen Van Vinh (born in 1956) and Le Thanh Hung. Because Long had previously received from Tran Ngoc Duc (born in 1950) a set of documents requesting a karaoke business license for a restaurant on Tran Hung Dao Street (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City), Long gave the documents to Vinh to give to Hung to do.

Portrait of "colonel" on the run from wanted warrant

Then Vinh took Long to meet Hung to negotiate the price for the karaoke business license of 700 million VND, the Fire Prevention and Fighting license of 50 million VND, the total package was 750 million VND.

After agreeing on the price, Long reported to Duc the price of 800 million VND and Duc agreed. In July 2011, Long took 120 million VND from his own money and gave it to Vinh to give to Hung. Because Hung called many times to urge him to give the money, Long gave him an additional 50 million VND.

Then, Vinh signed for Long to pay 295 million VND on behalf of Hung. In September 2011, Hung said he had a license but Long did not receive a business license from Hung.

Some documents seized when arresting Hung

At the police station, Le Thanh Hung confessed to receiving 295 million VND from Long to apply for a karaoke business license and gave Nguyen Tuan Anh 100 million VND to take care of it.

Nguyen Tuan Anh confessed that after receiving money from Hung, Tuan Anh called a person named Thanh (supposedly working at the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City) and Thanh gave him a price of 10,000 USD.

When Tuan Anh submitted the documents, Thanh informed him that this karaoke place's license had been revoked, so if he wanted to run it, he would have to pay from 10,000 USD to 12,000 USD. If he had an additional Fire Prevention and Fighting license, it would cost another 5,000 USD to 7,000 USD.

After the case was exposed, Tran Phi Long, Nguyen Van Vinh, Nguyen Tuan Anh, and Tran Ngoc Duc were sentenced to between 2 and 16 years in prison for bribery and fraud. Knowing that his accomplices had been caught, Le Thanh Hung disappeared and was wanted by the Ho Chi Minh City Police.

During his time on the wanted list, Le Thanh Hung forged some documents to buy a military colonel’s uniform. In addition, Hung also forged documents, identification cards, and military ID cards with the rank of military colonel. Hung stated that he forged them to deceive the authorities, evade the wanted notice, and make it difficult for the police to detect him.

According to NLD