VietNamNet Bridge - An employee of the Techcombank in Thanh Hoa Province has been sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison on charges of abusing his position to appropriate property and gambling.

As one of the three people in the ATM cash management team of Techcombank Thanh Hoa, Nguyen Tien Cuong, 30, took advantage of his position and power to appropriate VND4.265 billion (over $200,000) of the bank.

From August 2010 to June 2011, Cuong withdrew over VND4 billion from ATMs in Thanh Hoa city and Hoang Hoa district to serve his hobby of betting and gambling.

According to investigation, during this period, Cuong often reported to Nguyen Thi Thanh Quy, the team leader, about the breakdown of ATMs in Thanh Hoa City and Hoang Hoa district and asked Quy to give the keys of these ATMs to him for fixing the machines.

After receiving the keys, Cuong unlocked the ATMs to take cash. He withdrew more than $200,000 from ATMs, in seven times. To cover his act, Cuong took the money from this ATM to put into another ATM.

Cuong spent the money in gambling and football betting. During this period, Cuong lost a total of VND3.3 billion ($150,000) in football bets with Nguyen Thanh Hai, 29, a staff of Techcombank Hanoi.

By mid-June 2011, the money in ATMs was exhausted. Cuong could not transfer money between ATMs so his act was discovered.

On October 31, the Thanh Hoa Province People's Court sentenced Nguyen Tien Cuong 20 years in prison for abusing powers to appropriate property and 5 years in prison for gambling. Cuong has to pay compensation of over VND4.26 billion for Techcombank Thanh Hoa.

Nguyen Thanh Hai was sentenced to four years in prison and fined VND20 million ($1,000) for gambling charges.

Thanh Le