VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City police have prosecuted five people for building fake tombs to appropriate state money.

Two officials of District 8, Nguyen Van Sau and Pham Van Phuoc, were accused of joining hands with three people from a private funeral service company named Cong Vinh Tho, to build hundreds of fake tombs to appropriate money from a project to remove a cemetery to build a new residential area in District 8.

Of the three people from the Cong Vinh Tho funeral service company, the firm’s director Nguyen Van Thanh is now in jail for an 8-year verdict for building fake tombs in District 2.

Police have arrested District 8’s official Nguyen Van Sau and Pham Thanh Van of Cong Vinh Tho funeral service company for investigation. Others are out on bail.

Earlier, police arrested Nguyen Hoang Thai, the first defendant in this fake tomb building gang in November 2011.

According to investigators, District 8 authorities signed a contract with Cong Vinh Tho company to remove tombs in the local cemetery to have land for building a new residential area, at the cost of VND500,000-VND6 million ($25-$300) per tomb.

Cong Vinh Tho company joined hands with two local officials, Sau and Phuoc, who were in charge of supervising tomb removal to appropriated more than VND1.1 billion ($50,000) from 294 fake tombs from November 2005 to May 2008.

Phuong Lan