Land registration office employee defrauds people of billions of dong.
Having lost money playing the cryptocurrency game, Nguyen Quang Truong, a contract employee at a branch of the land registration office, abused his position and authority to defraud many people in Nghe An province, appropriating nearly 4 billion VND.
The People's Court of Nghe An province recently held a trial for defendant Nguyen Quang Truong (30 years old), residing in Dong Hop commune, Quy Hop district (Nghe An province), on two charges:Abuse of position and authority to misappropriate assets." and "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
Nguyen Quang Truong was a contract employee at the Land Surveying Technical Department, Quy Hop District Branch of the Land Registration Office from April 1, 2021 to October 6, 2022. Truong's duties included assisting with the extraction and supplementary surveying of land parcels, updating land survey records, and performing other tasks assigned by the branch director.
Since April 2021, Truong has been asked by many residents of Dong Hop commune and some neighboring communes to handle land-related procedures such as: renewing land use right certificates, changing land use purposes, subdividing land plots, etc. After completing the procedures and receiving the land title certificate, the people would "bribe" Truong with 5 to 10 million VND.
By September 2021, due to losses from online cryptocurrency trading, Truong conceived the idea of committing fraud. Truong's scheme involved receiving money from people and promising to handle land-related procedures. However, after receiving the money, he used it to gamble online.
The investigating agency determined that from November 2021 to October 6, 2022, Nguyen Quang Truong abused his position to receive money for processing documents and procedures for land subdivision, issuance of land use certificates, and conversion of land use purposes, thereby embezzling more than 2.8 billion VND from 39 people.
On October 6, 2022, the Nghe An Provincial Land Registration Office terminated Truong's employment contract. However, Truong concealed the fact that he had resigned in order to receive money for land-related procedures, defrauding 20 people and appropriating nearly 1.1 billion VND. Thus, the total amount of money Truong defrauded and appropriated from the victims is nearly 4 billion VND.
At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime against most of the victims. Regarding four victims, the defendant claimed that he used part of the money to obtain land ownership certificates ("red books") and the rest was borrowed with handwritten agreements for land trading, not fraud.
However, these victims stated that they did not know the defendant and therefore did not lend him any money. They argued that the defendant's actions of handling land procedures but then writing loan agreements after receiving the money constituted a fraudulent scheme. The victims requested that the defendant return their money.
The defendant stated that he is currently unable to repay the debt. In his final statement before the court adjourned to deliberate, the defendant apologized to his former employer, his family, and the victims.
After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel of judges sentenced Nguyen Quang Truong to a total of 25 years in prison for two charges: "Abuse of position and power to appropriate property" and "Fraudulent appropriation of property".