The People’s Court of District 3, HCMC is handling a lawsuit in which Le Thi Hoa, a resident of District 10, has claimed damages worth VND1.14 billion (US$54,700) from a notary office that had certified false papers related to her purchase of a house.

Le Thi Hong being questioned by an investigator, Photo: Tuoi Tre

The damages include a loan worth VND1 billion, and the rest is the interest on it, Hoa said in her complaint.

According to the case file, Le Thi Hoa agreed to lend VND1 billion to a man who called himself Tran Van Luc and a woman he said was his wife, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, on their mortgage of the house at 16 Do Tan Phong, Phu Nhuan District.

Under the agreement between Hoa and the couple the lending term was three months, and if the borrowers could not repay their loan within the time limit, then they would have to sell the house to Hoa.

On January 6, 2011, Hoa and the couple brought their house mortgage contract to the Trung Tam Notary Office in District 3, where notary public Tran Cong Khai certified it after examination.

After the lending term passed and the couple failed to repay the loan and did not sell the house to her, Hoa filed a complaint to the Phu Nhuan District People’s Court against the couple and reported the case to police.

Investigations by police later showed that the two people who had gone to the notary with Hoa were actually named Kiet and To Thi Hong, and had falsely claimed to be Tran Van Luc and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, the real owners of the house.

Luc and Thuy told the investigators that they had lost the certificate of house ownership for the house and had obtained a new certificate. 

This means the certificate used by the false couple was no longer valid, police concluded .
Hoa later by chance met the woman who had falsely claimed to be Thuy and called police to detain her.

The detainee told police that her real name is To Thi Hong, 41, of Phu Nhuan District, and that she had been hired for VND5 million ($240) by a man who only called himself Kiet to act as his wife to sign the document to mortgage the said house to Hoa to get the loan.

Hong said she and Kiet later used fake ID cards in the name of Tran Van Luc and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy when they dealt with the notary office for certification of the contract. 

Luc and Thuy told police that the man named Kiet might be a relative of theirs.

Police are continuing with their investigation and looking for the man.

Source: Tuoi Tre