Sentencing of the husband and wife directors of Minh Khang Company

Previously, on 2 days (September 20 and 21), Nghe An Provincial People's Court publicly tried the criminal case against 2 defendants Nguyen Thi Thu - Director of Minh Khang Trading Company Limited (Minh Khang Company) and Nguyen Dinh Khang - Head of Minh Khang Urban Area Project Management Board for the crimes of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Abuse of trust to appropriate property".

According to the indictment, the ProjectMinh Khang Urban Area(full name is Project to build a complex of hotel, supermarket, pharmaceutical - medical equipment business and housing in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city) invested by Minh Khang Company has had its planning adjusted 4 times.

According to the planning approved in 2007, the project has 74 land lots of various types. Since 2011, Minh Khang Company has started to let individuals and organizations sign capital contribution contracts for the land lots; at the same time, using the Land Use Right Certificates of some land lots as collateral for loans to repay debts; transferring some fictitious land lots in the project to some people to appropriate assets. The company has signed 305 capital contribution contracts, 325 land lots for 250 individuals, with an amount of more than543billion dong

Not only that, the defendants Nguyen Thi Thu and Nguyen Dinh Khang also used unreal plots of land, plots of land that had been sold to others, or plots of land that had been mortgaged to banks to continue to use as collateral for loans from other individuals and entities in the form of Capital Contribution Contracts...

At the trial, the prosecutors maintained the same view as the indictment. They proposed to sentence the defendant Nguyen Dinh Khang to life in prison for “Fraudulent appropriation of property” and 12 years in prison for “Abuse of trust to appropriate property”, with a combined sentence of life in prison; the defendant Nguyen Thi Thu received a sentence of 12 years in prison for “Fraudulent appropriation of property” and 12 years in prison for “Abuse of trust to appropriate property”, with a combined sentence of 24 years in prison.

The defendant's defense attorney at the trial argued that the actions of the two defendants did not constitute the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" because at the time of signing the capital contribution contract, the parties clearly expressed their will to contribute capital to receive a portion of the profits or to buy the project land at the original price when the project was completed.

However, the panel of judges held that the two defendants had provided a lot of false information to enable individuals and organizations to sign contracts to transfer non-existent land plots, then receive money for personal use, so the prosecution of the defendants for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" was completely justified and did not accept the defense of the lawyer.

Based on the content of the case and the litigation at the trial, the panel of judges determined as follows: Minh Khang Company has two capital contributors, Nguyen Thi Thu and Nguyen Dinh Khang. Although Nguyen Thi Thu is the director and legal representative, all activities are managed and directed by Mr. Khang. The defendants committed the crime as simple accomplices, defendant Nguyen Dinh Khang must bear the main criminal responsibility in the case, and defendant Thu was tried as an accomplice.

The defendants were subject to aggravating circumstances of committing the crime twice or more. Regarding mitigating circumstances, the defendants were all sincere, confessed, and repented. Defendant Nguyen Dinh Khang admitted that he had signed the capital contribution contract and collected money to pay interest to the bank as stated by the Investigation Police and the Procuracy. However, the defendant said that when signing the capital contribution contracts, individuals and organizations (the injured parties) would benefit when the project was completed, and he himself did not appropriate the property of those victims. Thus, defendant Nguyen Dinh Khang admitted that he had committed the act, but because of his limited legal awareness, he was not aware of his act.

The panel of judges decided to sentence defendant Nguyen Dinh Khang to 20 years in prison for “Fraudulent appropriation of property” and 12 years in prison for “Abuse of trust to appropriate property”, with a total sentence of 30 years in prison; defendant Nguyen Thi Thu received a sentence of 12 years in prison for “Fraudulent appropriation of property” and 8 years in prison for “Abuse of trust to appropriate property”, with a total sentence of 20 years in prison, and at the same time, forced the two defendants to jointly compensate the principal and interest to the victims./.