On 7/4, Vo Thi Thuy Trang, 44, was sentenced to 16 years in prison by the Dong Thap Provincial People's Court. Tran Hoang Nhan, 33, a gas station manager, received 7 years in prison. Both were convicted of property embezzlement.

Nguyen Thanh Tan, 58, Ho Vu Bao, 44, and Huynh Thi Lan, 58, all leaders of the Emulation and Commendation Board, received suspended sentences ranging from one to three years for irresponsibility causing serious consequences.

The defendants have since fully repaid all embezzled funds.

Vo Thi Thuy Trang and other defendants in court. *Photo: Hoang Nam*

According to the indictment, from January 2020 to August 2023, Trang exploited the lax financial and accounting oversight by the Emulation and Commendation Board's (Board) leadership. This enabled her to devise a plan to embezzle state funds. She then colluded with Nhan, a gas station manager at a fuel company in Long Dinh commune.

During this period, Nhan issued over 100 invoices for more than 62,000 liters of fuel sold to the Board, totaling over 1.2 billion VND. However, drivers only received over 2,900 liters. The remaining amount was covered by 78 sets of fraudulent documents, enabling Trang to embezzle over 1.1 billion VND.

Trang also created nearly 100 fraudulent invoices and documents for stationery purchases, siphoning over 1 billion VND from the budget. In one case, a business owner in Ward 1, former My Tho city, noticed 12 transfers totaling over 140 million VND from the state treasury into their account, despite no corresponding sales. When contacted, Trang falsely claimed a mistaken transfer, instructing the owner to withdraw the cash and return it to her, which she then embezzled.

The investigation agency concluded that through these methods, Trang created 173 sets of fraudulent documents and used value-added tax invoices from various businesses to legitimize payment records, ultimately embezzling over 2.1 billion VND from the state budget.

During the same period, the Board's leaders – Bao, Tan, and Lan – were found negligent in managing public assets. Their lax financial and accounting oversight, coupled with a failure to inspect, control, and properly manage digital signature (USB Token) usage, facilitated Trang's embezzlement of state funds.

The investigation also found no basis to conclude that the three business owners involved were Trang's accomplices.

Hoang Nam