Is it illegal to find a large amount of money and intentionally not return it?
(Baonghean.vn) - I picked up a handbag on the side of the road. I checked and found 30,200,000 VND and an ID card in the bag. I took the bag home and took out the money to use. I would like to ask if I did that, would I be guilty of illegal possession of property?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu (Thanh Chuong district) is interested in the following specific situation:I am 22 years old. A week ago, when I came home from work, I found a handbag on the side of the road at the entrance to my house. I checked and found that the bag contained 30,200,000 VND and an ID card. I took the bag home and took out some money to use. Five days later, a person contacted me claiming to be the owner of the money but not the name on the ID card and asked me to return it. I didn't know and didn't believe it, so I didn't return it. She called me back but I didn't answer. If I did that, would I be guilty of illegally possessing property?
Reply: According to the information you provided, you picked up an amount of 30,200,000 VND, then someone claimed to be the owner of that amount of money, although you did not believe it but did not confirm it, you did not want to return it to the owner. Your behavior constitutes the "Crime of illegal possession of property" as prescribed in Article 176, Penal Code 2015 and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code 2017 with the following penalty framework:
1. Anyone who intentionally fails to return to the owner, legal manager or fails to hand over to the responsible agency property worth from VND 10,000,000 to under VND 200,000,000, relics, antiques or objects of historical or cultural value that were mistakenly delivered or that he/she found or captured, after the owner, legal manager or responsible agency requests to receive the property back according to the provisions of law, shall be subject to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000, non-custodial reform for up to 02 years or imprisonment from 03 months to 02 years.
2. Crime of appropriating property worth 200,000,000 VND or more or national treasures, shall be punished with imprisonment from 01 year to 05 years.
So with the amount of money you found is 30,200,000 VND and the act of deliberately not wanting to return that property. You will be prosecuted for the crime of illegal possession of property. You can be fined from 10,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND, sentenced to non-custodial reform for up to 02 years or imprisoned from 03 months to 02 years.