Couple in Nghe An took 3 billion VND of borrowed money from people and then fled
(Baonghean) - Dozens of households in Dien Truong commune, Dien Chau district (Nghe An) have been in dire straits for many years, some of them mentally disturbed because their "debtors" ran away with billions of dong.
Borrowed money and ran away for more than 3 years
For more than 3 years, the family of Mr. Chu Duy Ly (35 years old, residing in Hamlet 3, Dien Truong Commune, Dien Chau District) has had to "hold" a debt of 25 million VND in bank loans. Mr. Ly said that at the end of 2015, Mr. Chu Thanh Long (Head of the loan group in Hamlet 6, now Hamlet 3, Dien Truong Commune) called his wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuong, saying that his family was able to borrow capital to develop livestock farming.
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| Mr. Chu Duy Ly and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Minh sat there, bewildered, recounting how Mr. Long borrowed money for many years and then embezzled it. Photo: PB |
Although she did not need it, thinking that the interest rate was low, Ms. Thuong still went to the commune to complete the procedures and signed the loan application for 30 million VND. A few days later, Mr. Long called Ms. Thuong to his house and gave her 15 million VND, but did not give her the remaining 15 million VND. A few days after Ms. Thuong got the money, Mr. Long came to her house to borrow 10 million VND again. In April 2016, Mr. Long fled the area.
“My family only used 5 million VND out of the 30 million VND borrowed. Mr. Long used 25 million VND for personal purposes but my family had to pay interest to the bank,” said Mr. Ly.
In the same situation, the family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh (44 years old, residing in Hamlet 3, Dien Truong Commune) is also struggling every month to pay the principal and interest on the money Mr. Long is borrowing from the family.
“I was also called by Mr. Long to apply for a loan. The loan application I signed was for 25 million VND, but in reality, I only received 10 million VND from Mr. Long. Now that Mr. Long has fled, I have to pay more than 3 million VND in interest, plus 15 million VND in principal,” Ms. Minh said, adding that her family also mortgaged the red book to borrow 70 million VND to give to Mr. Long. Every month, she has to pay 800,000 VND in interest and does not know when she will have 70 million VND to get the cover.
“My house is next to Mr. Long’s house, so we thought we should help each other out. I never thought that he and his wife would deceive my family like this.”
According to the reporter’s investigation, in Dien Truong commune, there are dozens of households that lent Mr. Chu Thanh Long billions of dong but have not yet recovered it. Not only did Mr. Long borrow from individuals, he also borrowed from the veterans association, the pension association, the armored vehicle association, etc.
Not only Mr. Long, his wife, Mrs. Chu Thi Mai, took advantage of being the deputy head and treasurer of the women's credit group in hamlet 3 to borrow nearly 400 million VND in monthly savings from women to lend to those in difficult circumstances to develop their economy.
Ms. Ho Thi Dong - Head of the Women's Credit Group in Hamlet 3 said: "Every month, the women in the hamlet save money, and if they have any extra money, they deposit it in the fund to earn interest, but Ms. Mai has taken it all. She said she borrowed it for 6 months to take care of her child going to work abroad, but it has been more than 3 years now and not only has she not paid it back, she has also run away."
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| Ms. Ho Thi Dong said that she and her family were scammed by Ms. Mai and lost more than 100 million VND and she does not know when she will get it back. Photo: PB |
According to local people, in February 2016, when people did not see Mrs. Mai at home, when they asked, Mr. Long said that she went to the South to visit her children. Only 2 months later, Mr. Long also "disappeared" from the locality, causing many people to fall into a dire situation. Because the amount of money that Mr. Long and his wife borrowed from individuals and groups in Dien Truong commune, according to local people's initial estimate, was more than 3 billion VND. By July 2016, Mr. Long's family transferred the land plot in Hamlet 3 with an area of 677 m2 from the family to Mr. Chu Duy Chung, a person in the same hamlet.
“This is clearly an act of asset disposal, showing that Mr. Long’s family has the means and ability but intentionally does not pay the debt. At the same time, Mr. Long’s army salary is still received by others but he does not pay the debt to the people,” said Ms. Minh, adding that the time from when the transfer contract was notarized until the People’s Committee of Dien Chau district issued a new land title to Mr. Chung’s family was only 5 days, which is too fast.
Looking back to July 2016, we can see that people's thoughts are well-founded because on July 8, 2016 (which happened to be Friday), the Cau Giat Notary Office in Quynh Luu District certified the transfer contract between Mr. Long's family and Mr. Chung's family. July 9, 2016 and July 10, 2016 fell on Saturday and Sunday, so the administrative agencies were closed. By July 12, 2016, the People's Committee of Dien Chau District had issued a land use right certificate to Mr. Chung's family, which was "super" fast.
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| The house and land of Mr. Long's family were transferred to Mr. Chung's family. Photo: PB |
Authorities confused?
People believe that Mr. Long and his wife have abused their trust to appropriate property, so they have filed a complaint with authorities at all levels from the commune to the province. After receiving the complaint from the citizen, Dien Chau District Police issued a decision to assign the handling of the complaint, crime report, and recommended prosecution according to regulations to carry out verification measures.
After the verification period, Dien Chau District Police responded to citizens that the case of Mr. Chu Thanh Long and Mrs. Chu Thi Mai borrowing money from households and the Women's Union of Hamlet 6, Dien Truong Commune was determined to be a civil transaction.
Dien Chau District Police have summoned Mr. Chu Thanh Long and Ms. Chu Thi Mai for questioning many times, but Mr. Long and Ms. Mai were not present in the area, their place of residence could not be determined, and they could not be contacted for questioning; the land plot and house where Mr. Long and Ms. Mai resided in Dien Truong Commune had been sold to someone else before Dien Chau District Police received the complaint.
Dien Chau District Police also said that the grounds to prove that Mr. Long and Ms. Mai borrowed money as well as to serve to specifically and accurately determine the amount borrowed did not have much legal value (loan records were not tight, there was no confirmation or authentication from competent state agencies, there was no collateral...).
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| The list of people who lent money to Mr. Long and his wife and the loan papers. |
After the verification period expired, due to insufficient grounds to issue a decision to initiate or not initiate a case, on February 10, 2017, Dien Chau District Police issued a decision to temporarily suspend the investigation and verification of the citizen's crime report. However, the response notice from Dien Chau District Police did not receive the consensus of the people and they said that the police agency could still identify Mr. Long's signature through the citizen identification card archive.
According to Article 175 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017, the act of “escaping to appropriate property” is one of the circumstances determining the crime of Abuse of trust to appropriate property (Point a, Clause 1, Article 175). It is seen that the departure of Mr. Long and his wife from their residence shows signs of the act of fleeing to appropriate property.
Specifically, Mr. Long and his wife used every trick to prevent the lender from contacting them, changed contact information, changed their residence, and when they left, did not notify the creditors about their absence from the locality with the aim of avoiding debt repayment obligations to appropriate property.
In addition, Mr. Long and his wife left the locality secretly because when leaving, as reported by the People's Committee of Dien Truong Commune, Mr. Long did not apply for a temporary absence certificate from the commune police. The fact that Mr. Long's family transferred the house and the family's land to another person also shows that Mr. Long and his wife's departure from the locality was not for a specified period of time.
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| Initial estimates show that the amount of money that Mr. Long and his wife borrowed and appropriated from dozens of individuals and groups in Dien Truong commune was more than 3 billion VND. Photo: PB |
In fact, in the recent past, there have been many cases of debt default in the province, many “debtors” have left the locality but the authorities have not been able to prosecute the crime of “Abuse of trust to appropriate property”. People are in dire straits, at risk of losing all the money they have saved for years.
According to Nghe An Provincial Police, Article 175 of the 2015 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2017) stipulates the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property", the grounds of "abandoning to appropriate property" and "when the deadline for returning property comes, despite having the conditions and ability, but intentionally not returning" have not been guided by the agency for uniform application and in reality, there are many situations leading to different understandings by the agencies conducting the proceedings. This has caused many difficulties in application, affecting the work of preventing and combating crime in the province.