On the afternoon of April 25, the Provincial People’s Court ended the first instance trial of defendant Ong Thi Bich Ngoc, 36 years old, residing in Bec Hen Lon hamlet, Long Thanh commune, Vinh Loi district. The defendant was sentenced to 19 years in prison for fraudulent appropriation of property in the hui fraud case. There were 144 victims with the amount of money they defrauded reached more than 15 billion VND.
The indictment determined that in 2010, Ong Thi Bich Ngoc began owning the clan and opened many profitable clans and called on many people living in the districts of Vinh Loi, Hoa Binh and City. Bac Lieu participates in hui groups to enjoy commissions. During the process of owning the hui, Ngoc used the hui members’ money for personal expenses and filled the hui, leading to an imbalance, so Ngoc committed fraudulent acts of appropriating money from the hui members.
By June 2022, defendant Ngoc announced his bankruptcy. At this time, there are 76 unfinished hui strings including weekly hui, half-month hui, 1 month, 2 month and 4 month hui, valued from 200,000 VND/piece to 5,000,000 VND/piece. The total amount of money Ong Thi Bich Ngoc appropriated from the members through the investigation amounted to over 15.3 billion VND.
Concluding at the trial, the Trial Panel found that just because he wanted to have money to spend on personal needs, the defendant disregarded the law and used deceitful tricks over a long period of time to appropriate property. of many people with huge amounts of money, causing social discontent, losing trust in civil transactions, and affecting local security and police. The defendant’s behavior is dangerous to society. It is necessary to strictly handle and isolate the defendant from social life for a long time. Only then can he be able to reform and educate the sense of law observance. for the defendant and also for general deterrence and prevention.
Defendant Ong Thi Bich Ngoc at trial on April 25, 2024.
News and photos: KP
