Tycoon couple sentenced to prison for defrauding bank of over 28 billion VND

On April 22, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced defendants Nguyen Son Hai (born in 1975, in Hai Ba Trung) and Pham Van Anh (born in 1976) to 8 years and 3 years in prison, respectively, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

According to the accusation, in 2007, SmartDoor Australia Rolling Door Joint Stock Company was directed by Mr. Hai and was the legal representative. Ms. Van Anh was the Deputy Director in charge of finance and accounting of this company.

In addition, Mr. Hai and his wife also asked someone to establish 4 other companies in their name: Hopo Joint Venture Company Limited, Hai Anh Trading Service Production Joint Stock Company, Van Phu Trading Service Production Joint Stock Company and ArtDoor Joint Venture Joint Stock Company.

From March 2012 to August 2012, Mr. Hai and his wife used legal entities they established, directed, and operated to sign contracts for the purchase and sale of goods and documents related to the purchase and sale of fake aluminum and stainless steel goods, and issued fake value-added invoices for the purchase and sale of aluminum and stainless steel goods to each other.

This is to create a profile proving the purpose of use and a profile of collateral assets formed from fake loan capital to establish a loan profile of VIB Bank, Hanoi branch with a total amount of more than 28 billion VND, resolved according to 12 debt acknowledgment contracts.

The investigation agency clarified that the goods bought and sold were not real aluminum and stainless steel, and there was no buying and selling of goods between companies.

After receiving the loan from VIB Bank, Mr. Hai and his wife did not use the loan for the intended purpose but transferred the money through subsidiaries, used it to pay off previous loans of SmartDoor Company at VIB and Techcombank, or withdrew cash to use for other activities, appropriating the bank's loan.

The accusation is that Ms. Van Anh participated as an accomplice to help her husband defraud and appropriate loans from VIB Bank. Currently, defendant Hai has fully paid off SmartDoor Company's loans at VIB Bank and has fully remedied the consequences of the case.

During the additional investigation, Mr. Hai stated that around 2010-2011, he was sick so he could not manage production and business activities.

Mr. Hai did not know about the economic contracts for the purchase and sale of goods between SmartDoor Company and other companies; he also did not direct his wife to sign debt acknowledgment contracts and payment authorizations with VIB Bank, and did not know about the amount of money that VIB disbursed according to the economic contracts.

In addition, the company seals and Mr. Hai's signature seal were managed and used by his wife. Mr. Hai directed the making of one signature seal and gave it to someone else to manage and stamp with his consent. Only when working with the investigation agency did Mr. Hai learn that there were two signature seals of his.

Meanwhile, Ms. Van Anh stated that although she was the Deputy Director of SmartDoor Company, she was not in charge of finance and accounting, and did not participate in the company's production and business activities. Ms. Van Anh signed debt acknowledgment contracts, loan requests, and payment authorizations given by the company's chief accountant.

According to Ms. Van Anh's testimony, she did not know who created the fake economic contracts for the purchase and sale of goods, the goods delivery and receipt minutes, did not know who managed and used the SmartDoor Company seal and Mr. Hai's signature, and did not know how the money disbursed by VIB Bank was used because it was managed by Mr. Hai and the accountant.

The investigation agency allowed the defendant and his wife to confront each other, but both sides maintained their original statements.