What did the lawyer say about the noise related to Pham Thoai's charity appeal?

Luật sư nói gì về ồn ào liên quan việc kêu gọi từ thiện của Phạm Thoại?- Ảnh 1. — The developments from Pham Thoai's charity appeal scandal are becoming a hot topic across social media platforms, attracting the attention of many people.

Pham Thoai's livestream charity statement is still suspicious

In recent days, the story of TikToker Pham Thoai calling for charity with an amount of up to more than 16 billion VND to help baby Minh Hai (commonly known as Bap) in his journey to treat leukemia has attracted attention and discussion from netizens. When information about baby Bap's health was rarely updated and the baby's mother, Ms. Le Thi Thu Hoa, avoided questions related to the charity money and hospital fees for her child, public opinion began to question the transparency of this huge donation. On the evening of February 25, this TikToker had a livestream to clarify the noise related to the amount of money donated to baby Bap.

During the live session, Pham Thoai said that in recent days, many people were upset and asked him to make a statement of Bap's mother's account. The 9X TikToker shared the income and expenditure in the account calling for support for Bap, showed hospital bills, photos of transfer transactions... and committed to posting detailed statements on social networks.

Notably, Pham Thoai also connected with Ms. Hoa (mother of baby Bap) to question information such as using donated money to get porcelain teeth, take business class flights, buy land, buy a car, send her older child to an international school, etc. When asked to make a statement of the amount of money people donated to her personal account, Ms. Hoa said she was still staying in Singapore as requested by the doctor to take care of her child. She said that after returning home, she would do everything to avoid misunderstandings. Baby Bap's mother also bowed her head to apologize for her uncontrolled statements in the past. She said: "I really hope that you can be tolerant and forgive me." Meanwhile, Pham Thoai affirmed that he did not embezzle charity. The male TikToker also announced that he would soon post all the statements on social media for everyone to follow to ensure publicity and transparency.

Luật sư nói gì về ồn ào liên quan việc kêu gọi từ thiện của Phạm Thoại?- Ảnh 2. — Pham Thoai brought the noisy charity story related to baby Bap to livestream on the evening of February 25, attracting more than half a million viewers.

Watching the livestream, many people expressed skepticism about the information shared by Pham Thoai and Ms. Hoa. Although the people involved have spoken out, the charity noise related to this story has not ended because many questions and doubts of netizens have not been clarified. On social networking sites, netizens are still constantly discussing, comparing information, raising many questions about the transparency of the people involved, the responsibility of Pham Thoai and baby Bap's mother when using the money that everyone donated.

What do lawyers say?

Speaking with Thanh Nien, lawyer Truong Van Tuan (Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association) said that according to Article 22 and Article 23, Section IV, which stipulates that organizations and individuals participating in mobilizing and receiving voluntary contributions to support patients with serious illnesses under Decree 93/2021/ND-CP, individuals have the right to mobilize and contribute to support patients with serious illnesses in each specific case. Decree 93/2021/ND-CP only stipulates that mass media agencies, medical facilities, charity funds and organizations with legal status open accounts at the State Treasury or commercial banks to receive voluntary contributions and directly support patients with serious illnesses, without mentioning whether individuals calling for charity can use personal accounts or not. Therefore, Pham Thoai's call for charity using a personal account number is not contrary to the law.

The ticket agent owner and teacher appeared 'at the right time', raising a series of questions from Pham Thoai's livestream statement?

Lawyer Truong Van Tuan also said that Clause 2, Article 23 of Decree 93/2021/ND-CP stipulates that "Individuals receive voluntary contributions and use them to directly support patients with serious illnesses. Individuals must fully summarize information on the results of receiving and using voluntary contributions to support patients with serious illnesses and make them public in the media". Therefore, it is completely reasonable for the benefactor who contributed to treat Bap to request the public disclosure of treatment costs and charity statements.

Luật sư nói gì về ồn ào liên quan việc kêu gọi từ thiện của Phạm Thoại?- Ảnh 3. — Ms. Thu Hoa and some "related" people appeared in Pham Thoai's livestream from Singapore.

In response to netizens' questions, if Bap's mother uses the charity money incorrectly, such as not using it for medical treatment but for personal use, building a house for her parents... is there a violation of the law? The lawyer analyzed that if Ms. Hoa (Bap's mother) did not directly call for charity (someone else stood up to raise donations), then current law does not stipulate a form of sanction for the person receiving the aid but using it for a purpose other than the original purpose. However, the obligation of the person receiving the aid is to use it for the original purpose of the aid. Because this is a form of conditional donation transaction (used for a certain purpose when calling for donations). If the person receiving the donation does not use it for the purpose as called for when raising donations, the person who donated can request the person receiving the donation to return the money (property) used for the wrong purpose.

In the case that baby Bap's mother is the one who directly calls for charity to treat her child but uses the charity money for other purposes such as personal spending, building a house for her parents..., according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree 93/2021/ND-CP, "Reporting, providing false information; appropriating; distributing, using for the wrong purpose, not at the right time of distribution, the object supported from voluntary contributions", thus, baby Bap's mother has violated the law.

If benefactors/donors discover that the donated money is not transparent and have evidence to prove this, the donor can report it to the competent authorities to clarify the issue. At that time, depending on the investigation conclusion of the authorities, if there is a violation in the use of charity money for the wrong purpose, this act can be prosecuted for criminal liability for the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property" according to the provisions of Article 175 of the current Penal Code 2015.

In response to the question: "Do donors have the right to request a refund if they discover that the donation is not transparent?", lawyer Truong Van Tuan said that currently, there is no legal document specifically regulating the request for a refund to the donor if the donation is found to be not transparent. However, from a civil perspective, in this case, the donor's contribution of money to support the medical expenses of baby Bap through baby Bap's mother and Pham Thoai can be considered a civil transaction of a conditional donation contract. Accordingly, the donors donate money so that baby Bap's mother can carry out the treatment for baby Bap. If the donor has grounds to prove that the money they donated was used for the wrong purpose, meaning that baby Bap's mother did not use the money to treat the baby, they can file a civil lawsuit against baby Bap's mother in court to reclaim the money they donated according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 426 of the current 2015 Civil Code.

Luật sư nói gì về ồn ào liên quan việc kêu gọi từ thiện của Phạm Thoại?- Ảnh 4. — Pham Thoai confirmed that on the morning of February 26, he will make public all statements so that the online community can check and monitor each amount of money. Many people are still waiting for this move of his.

Referring to Pham Thoai, lawyer Truong Van Tuan said that in the case where this TikToker was the one who directly called for charity to support the treatment costs for baby Bap, then returned all the donated money to baby Bap's mother, Pham Thoai has no legal responsibility in this case. However, if there is evidence to prove that Pham Thoai has benefited illegally from the money donated for baby Bap's treatment, this act can be prosecuted for criminal liability for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" prescribed in Article 174 of the current 2015 Penal Code.

According to lawyer Truong Van Tuan, charitable donation activities by "celebrities" are on the rise and have made important contributions to supporting people in difficult and disadvantaged circumstances to rise up and overcome adversity. The effectiveness of calling for donations from "celebrities" cannot be denied, because the number of followers and fans is large, so it has a wide influence. However, the lack of professionalism and transparency in the work of statistics, distribution and public disclosure of relief funds has caused a lot of noise and wasted a lot of ink in society, and these frustrations are not new.

Decree No. 93/2021/ND-CP has stipulated that the subjects are individuals with full civil act capacity to participate in this activity (stipulated in Articles 17-19, Section 2, regulations on receiving, distributing, and managing contributions), however, there are still some unclear points that may continue to cause confusion when implementing. For example: "Individuals who mobilize are responsible for agreeing with organizations and individuals who contribute to have a plan to distribute and use the remaining voluntary contributions or transfer them to the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committees at all levels to implement social security policies to ensure that they are consistent with the goals committed to the organizations and individuals who contribute". So how to agree with organizations and individuals who contribute? How much is enough to determine the remaining surplus?

Lawyer Tuan said that the situation of "famous people" calling for charity support but not establishing a fund according to the provisions of Decree No. 93/2019/ND-CP on the organization and operation of social funds and charity funds, but calling for money to be deposited into personal accounts is quite common. These individuals may not have the intention of making a profit, but not establishing a fund according to regulations is a wrongful act that can lead to adverse consequences and be subject to sanctions according to the provisions of the law. Not to mention that many people have taken advantage of charity work to make a profit, polish their names or show off their ethics when they do not do charity as committed.

The noise in charity activities is not new. That shows that charity activities are not simple or easy, and if not done properly, it can even lead to unwanted consequences.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/luat-su-noi-gi-ve-on-ao-lien-quan-viec-keu-goi-tu-thien-cua-pham-thoai-185250226135242878.htm