Ho Van Lam, 34, former chief accountant of Thoai Son District Social Insurance in An Giang Province, forged signatures to withdraw the funds from July 2008 to December 2010.

His accomplices, company director Nguyen Hong Mau and Ngo Phuoc Truong, Mau’s deputy, also received three years of probation each for allowing Lam to use the unlawful signatures. They were charged with “irresponsibility causing serious consequences.”

Before the trial, Mau, 45, and Truong, 46, had been expelled from the Communist Party of Vietnam by the District Party Committee.

Lam used the money to gamble, including betting on football matches. The court also ordered three others implicated in the gambling to spend at least a year in prison.

In total, Lam withdrew nearly VND16.5 billion ($792,000) from the retirement accounts and pocketed roughly VND12.6 billion of it.

During the investigation, Lam and his family returned nearly VND8 billion, so the court directed him to pay the remaining amount, VND4.6 billion, back to Thoai Son.

According to the indictment, Lam submitted 129 checks to Mau and Truong, who approved them without authorization. Lam also forged Mau’s signature on 41 other checks.

The three other defendants who gambled with Lam were Nguyen Thanh An, 42, who received a two-year sentence, and Vo Van Thuan, 44, and Nguyen Tan Tham, 26, each sentenced to one year.

Source: tuoi tre