Former business executive handed life sentence in $24 mln fraud case

The former chairman of the International Technology Development and Investment Trading Joint Stock Company (IDT) Pham Thanh Hai was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for fraudulently appropriating more than VND572 billion ($24.35 million).

The judgment was announced by the Hanoi People's Court after a seven-day trial per Article 139 of the Penal Code.

In May 2018, Hai was sentenced to life imprisonment by the first instance court. A year later, the court of appeal annulled his sentence and reopened the investigation to establish the number of victims and damage caused, while at the same time identifying his accomplices.

The judges considered this a particularly serious case, adversely affecting public security and order. The sheer number of victims was so high it caused public panic and discontent, and left many facing difficulties.

The judgment determined that Hai had given false information about projects that had not been put into operation to convince thousands of people to invest.

The victims paid more than VND2.7 trillion ($115 million) in total, but the defendant only used VND99 billion ($4.22 million) to make investments in other companies that were not profitable.

Hai used most of the money for personal expenses, lending and bank deposits.

Of the 574 victims, 31 did not claim civil compensation, so the jury declared that Hai only had to pay damages to the remaining 543, totaling more than VND572 billion ($24.35 million).

Hai founded IDT and had been its chairman since 2007, but despite the wide range of fields the firm was engaged in, it was not efficient. A year later, Hai founded the website hoclamgiau.vn (learn to get rich) and organized seminars.

During the sessions, he introduced himself as holding a doctorate with business experience in the Soviet Union. He promoted IDT as a firm that could help investors reap high gains, and get rich from billion-dollar macadamia "industrial plants" and "super projects". Those who chose to contribute capital would be paid an interest rate of 40-50%/year and were told they would receive interest upon payment.

Hai is now unable to pay those "investors" the VND572 billion ($24.35 million) he owes.