The two defendants listened as the verdict was announced.
The investigation results determined that the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office is a unit directly under the Provincial Land Registration Office, with the function of receiving and returning surveying results and services; registering and issuing certificates of land use rights, ownership of houses and assets attached to land in Chau Phu district according to regulations. The Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office has its own seal, and its accounting is dependent on the Provincial Land Registration Office. From March 2017, Trung was appointed as Deputy Director and in September 2020 was appointed as Director, and is the account holder of account number 70210000142430 of the office opened at the Vietnam Investment and Development Bank, Bac An Giang Branch - Chau Phu Transaction Office.
Le Minh Phuong was assigned to be the cashier, also serving as the officer responsible for returning land-related documents at the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office. Her duties included: managing cash receipts and disbursements, returning documents, issuing value-added tax invoices, collecting fees and charges for land-related document services according to administrative procedures from October 29, 2019 to June 15, 2022. The accountant was responsible for preparing daily receipts for parties to sign and entering the cash receipt and disbursement data into the cash book as per regulations. Weekly, the cashier would take money to the bank to deposit into the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office's account. Monthly, the accountant would prepare documents and receipts for settlement with the Provincial Land Registration Office and be responsible for the approved documents within their authority. The Provincial Land Registration Office would issue invoices and provide value-added tax invoice books (each invoice with 3 copies) to the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office for use. According to the assignment from the leadership of the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office, only the staff responsible for issuing VAT invoices are allowed to issue them and are responsible for issuing invoices when processing applications and collecting payments as per regulations. Daily, the staff reporting the VAT invoice data to the accountant ensures the accountant can prepare settlement documents as required.
However, during their time working at the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office, Phuong and Trung abused their assigned duties and positions to commit the following crimes: From January 1, 2021, to June 15, 2022, Phuong, taking advantage of her assigned role as cashier and land registration officer, used fraudulent methods to collect fees and charges from citizens for 442 land registration files without issuing invoices or receiving the collected fees and charges and issuing VAT invoices. She then used the Land Registration Office's management software to cancel the invoices and did not deposit the money into the Chau Phu Branch's account as required, thereby embezzling a total of over 920 million VND.
From May 11, 2016 to June 12, 2022, in his roles as Deputy Director and Director of the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office, Trung instructed his staff to waive (not collect) service fees for 76 land-related files involving himself and 55 relatives and acquaintances, causing damage to the State budget totaling nearly 95 million VND (including 5 files for which Trung personally processed the results, amounting to over 2.8 million VND).
After being discovered and investigated, from June 16, 2022 to July 5, 2022, Phuong made five payments totaling over 1.1 billion VND to the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office. On July 25, 2022, Trung made a payment of over 124 million VND to the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office. On August 12, 2024, Phuong was prosecuted for "Embezzlement of assets"; on December 26, 2024, Trung was prosecuted for "Abuse of position and power while performing official duties". Following the investigation, both were brought to public trial at the Provincial People's Court. Before the panel of judges, both defendants sincerely confessed to their crimes. Initially, Phuong admitted to misappropriating money from the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office to pay for medical treatment and personal expenses, but later changed her statement, claiming she kept the money in her personal locker and did not misappropriate it from the Chau Phu Branch of the Land Registration Office. Based on the investigation results, the testimony of the defendant Trung, the statements of witnesses, those with related rights and obligations, and the collected evidence, Phuong's evasive and contradictory statements were merely an attempt to avoid criminal responsibility.
At the conclusion of the trial, the Judging Panel sentenced defendant Phuong to 12 years in prison for the crime of "Embezzlement of property" as stipulated in Point a, Clause 3, Article 353 of the Penal Code, and defendant Trung to 1.5 years in prison for the crime of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties" as stipulated in Clause 1, Article 356 of the Penal Code. Regarding those involved in the case, the investigation did not provide sufficient grounds to determine their criminal conduct; therefore, the investigating agency sent documents to the competent specialized management agencies where these individuals work for consideration of administrative sanctions as prescribed by law.
NGUYEN HUNG
Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/cung-vao-tu-vi-tham-o-a422672.html
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