VietNamNet Bridge – A former National Assembly deputy will be prosecuted for defrauding the public in a VND377 billion (US$16.9 million) property scam.

Chau Thi Thu Nga. — VNA Photo

The recommendation to prosecute 51-year-old Chau Thi Thu Nga was made by the Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday after a month-long investigation.

It asked the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Viet Nam, the nation’s premier prosecuting agency, to initiate proceedings against Nga, former deputy in the 13th National Assembly and chairwoman of the Land and Housing Construction and Investment JSC.

Nga will be charged with “cheating for the purpose of appropriating property.”

The move to prosecute came after the ministry’s Police Bureau of Investigating Economic Management Order Offences (C46) wrapped up the first phase of a month-long additional investigation into the case.

The investigation found that Nga and her accomplices had posted false claims on her company’s website about obtaining a construction licence from the People’s Committee of Ha Noi in 2008. The licence was for a project to build apartment buildings CT5 and HH2 in the capital city’s Cau Dien area.

Her company website said that Nga’s group had been approved as an investor for the project.

Between 2009 and 2013, the company also showed unapproved drawings of the apartments and collected VND377 billion (US$16.9 million) from home buyers.

The Ministry has proposed that the Supreme People’s Procuracy charges Nga under Article 139 of the Penal Code.

Nga was arrested on January 7, 2015.

VNS