The case of the former abbot of the temple in Vinh Long fake kidnapping and fraud of more than 77 billion: Sentenced to life in prison

The acts and consequences caused by the accused are very serious, showing contempt for the law.

The People's Court of Vinh Long province on April 13 opened a trial for defendant Pham Van Cung (40 years old, living in Tam Binh district - former abbot of Phuoc Quang pagoda) and Nguyen Tuan Si (living in Vinh Long city, practicing motorbike taxi). on the crime of "fraudulent appropriation of property".

The trial is scheduled to take place on April 13-14. According to the newspaper Saigon Liberation, this case had 4 victims, but on the 13th, only 3 victims were present and 1 victim was absent. According to Tuoi Tre Online, the trial on the morning of April 13 was seriously protected by the police, and defendant Cung refused a lawyer to defend him even though the authorities had previously appointed a lawyer to participate in the proceedings.

Cung is a monk with the legal name Thich Phuoc Ngoc, at Phuoc Quang pagoda, Tam Binh town, Tam Binh district, Vinh Long province. The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Vinh Long province then appointed Cung as the abbot of Phuoc Quang pagoda. Cung was also assigned to be the Director of the Buddhist Orphanage Center of the Fountain of Love, where orphans are raised, in 2012.

Cung contacted many people with conditions, introduced about the situation for them to help. After that, he used many tricks to scam a series of people with a total amount of more than 77 billion dong.

On April 14, the People's Court of Vinh Long province continued the first-instance trial of former abbot Pham Van Cung for fraud and appropriation of property. The court entered the debate session, the representative of the People's Procuracy of Vinh Long province raised the impeachment opinion and proposed the sentence for each defendant.

After more than a day of questioning, the representative of the People's Procuracy still held the same opinion as the prosecution. Accordingly, the representative of the People's Procuracy proposed the court to sentence defendant Cung to life in prison, and defendant Si from 3-5 years in prison for the same crime of defrauding and appropriating property.

The Procuratorate said that Cung took advantage of the name of the temple and the Fountain of Love Center, and sought to contact many people with economic conditions and introduce his charity work so that they could sympathize and help. . In addition, Cung also actively concocted bogus events to appropriate many people's money such as making up stories of being kidnapped, getting seriously ill, repairing temples...

Cung also introduced that he was acquainted with many high-ranking leaders at the Central Government, International Envoy; make many self-PR videos on social networks to promote images, create trust for many people to cheat money for personal spending and debt repayment. The defendant's behavior and consequences are very serious, showing contempt for the law, reducing trust among the people, and disrupting social order, so it is necessary to isolate the accused from society for a long time. commensurate with the defendant's conduct.

As for the accused Le Nguyen Khoa, the Investigation Security Agency - Vinh Long Provincial Police is wanted, when caught, it will be handled later. The case was carried out by Pham Van Cung and his accomplices for a long time from 2015 - 2020 and in many areas; in which many times this group committed crimes in Vinh Long province.

For other individuals, although they have received and transferred money from Cung, their receipt and transfer of money is only to help Cung pay debts, they themselves did not participate in cheating with Cung, Khoa and Si. They only received money from Cung to pay debts and help him pay debts, not knowing that this money was obtained by Cung and his accomplices.

Previously, after the People's Procuracy of Vinh Long province announced the indictment, defendant Cung fully agreed with the content of the indictment. However, defendant Cung said that the defendant used his personal reputation to cheat, not using the reputation of the temple or the orphanage.

Defendant Cung said that the defrauding many people was because the defendant cheated the victim's money to repay the other victim due to debts due to personal consumption from before 2005, but the defendant did not "unbalance his financial resources". main" when working as the abbot of the temple. However, the defendant Cung "dodged" when the Trial Panel asked the defendant what he spent leading to the debt.

The female director was scammed by the former abbot of Vinh Long pagoda with more than 11 billion and almost committed suicide Rosé20:14:14 16/04/2022According to Mrs. P., when she was cheated with a large amount of money, she fell into a very difficult situation. After nearly 2 days of trial, on the afternoon of April 14, the People's Court of Vinh Long province declared defendant Pham Van Cung (40 years old, living in Vinh...