A centre to support low-income people has been found cheating billions of VND from their depositors across Vietnam.

Supreme People's Procuracy prosecuted Tran Duc Trung (right) for the fraudulent appropriation of assets

On September 25, the Supreme People's Procuracy prosecuted Tran Duc Trung, born in 1961, and five accomplices for the fraudulent appropriation of assets.

Trung was the chairman of the Centre for the Poor. The centre was set up by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Rural Occupations in Vietnam but wasn't licensed. However, since April 2015, Trung and the former general director, Le Thi Hang, had organised Vietnamese Hearts Project but it's actually a multi-level marketing scam. 

When the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Rural Occupations in Vietnam decided to shut down the centre in December 2015, Trung co-operated with Nguyen Tuan Lan, head of Newstar Company, to organise a huge event and collected VND17.4bn (USD750,000). Trung used parts of the money to pay for their followers and appropriated VND2.7bn.

Trung encouraged farmers to deposit large money to them with promises of high interests.

Trung said that if the farmer deposited VND1.2m (USD52) then they would be given VND5.2-5.7m after six months, and if they could recruit more farmers to join the project then they would be awarded VND500,000 per person. Trung lied about the fund for the project, telling the farmers that they would be funded in accordance with policies. He also held many conferences as an advertisement for the project and to boost farmers' confidence.

They quickly expanded and opened 26 offices in 16 provinces and cities. The total deposited money reached VND148bn (USD6.3m). Tran Duc Nguyen and Le Thi Hang were accused to have appropriated VND26.3bn and VND8.8bn respectively.

According to the Supreme People's Procuracy, Trung and his accomplices appropriated more than VND42bn (USD1.8m) from over 1,000 people.

Tienphong/Dtinews