Collection of judgments on the crime of blatant appropriation of property in Vietnam

Hello, Lawnet would like to answer as follows:

The crime of blatant appropriation of property is specified in Article 172 of the Penal Code 2015, as follows:

"Article 172. Blatant appropriation of property

1. A person who indiscriminately takes property assessed at from VND 2,000,000 to under VND 50,000,000 or property assessed at under VND 2,000,000 in any of the following circumstances shall face a penalty of up to 03 years' community sentence or 06 - 36 months' imprisonment:

a) The offender has incurred an administrative penalty for appropriation of property;

b) The offender has an unspent conviction for looting or any of the criminal offences specified in Article 168, 169, 170, 171, 173, 174, 175 and 290 hereof;

c) The offence has a negative impact on social safety, order and security;

d) The property illegally obtained is the primary means of livelihood of the victim and the victim's family; 

2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 02 - 07 years' imprisonment:

a) The property obtained is assessed at from VND 50,000,000 to under VND 200,000,000;

b) The offender attacks other people to escape;

c) Dangerous recidivism.

d) The property obtain is emergency or humanitarian relief;

dd) The property appropriated is assessed at from VND 2,000,000 to under VND 50,000,000 or but the offender commits the offence in any of the circumstances specified in Point a through d Clause 1 of this Article.

3. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 07 - 15 years' imprisonment:

a) The property obtained is assessed at from VND 200,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000;

c) The offender takes advantage of a natural disaster or epidemic to commit the offence.

4. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 12 - 20 years' imprisonment:

a) The property obtained is ≥ VND 500,000,000;

c) The offender takes advantage of a war or state of emergency to commit the offence.

5. The offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000."

Below are some judgments on the crime of blatant appropriation of property in Vietnam

1. Judgment on the crime of blatant appropriation of property No. 161/2022/HS-PT

- Level of trial: Appellate

- Judicial body: People's Court of Tien Giang province.

- Quoted content: "The first-instance level concluded that defendant Huynh Minh P committed the crime of "robbing property" under the provisions of Clause 1, Article 136 of the Penal Code in 1999 as amended and supplemented in 2009 as having no solid basis. Because: The defendant and the victim are friends and go out together; the defendant did not commit the act of stealing property from the victim's hands without consciously appropriating the victim's property in advance and using other tricks to move the victim's property and quickly escape from the scene. Defendant P's behavior is to take advantage of the victim's loopholes in asset management and appropriate property right in front of the victim, so he satisfied the signs to constitute the crime: "Officially appropriating property" ."

- Result of settlement: Sentencing defendant Huynh Minh P 01 (one) year in prison.

2. Judgment 17/2019/HSST dated February 22, 2019 on the crime of blatant appropriation of property

- Level of trial: First instance.

- Judicial body: People's Court of O Mon district, Can Tho city.

- Quoted content: "At about 6:05 p.m. on November 28, 2018, Dang Thai P was walking in front of school H when he discovered Pham Hoang Kim A driving a motorcycle with plate number 65GA-xx colliding with a bicycle running in the same direction driven by a male. Because he was not injured, the man left. At this time, Dang Thai P walked over and took Kim A's motorbike to the side of the road and went with Kim A more than 50 meters to find a place to fix the car, but the owner of the car repair shop reported that it could not be repaired, so P borrowed a tool to fix the car himself. After P was able to fix the car by himself, he had an intention to take over this car, so he got in the car, started the engine, and ran towards L Park. Kim A shouted and grabbed the car port but couldn't."

- Result of settlement: Penalized Dang Thai P for 2 years in prison.

3. Judgment 102/2020/HSST dated December 23, 2020 on the crime of blatant appropriation of property

- Level of trial: First instance.

- Judicial body: People's Court of Dong Hung district, Thai Binh province.

- Quoted content: "Around 2:30 p.m. on October 9, 2020, Th was sitting at the gate of Th's house when he met Mrs. Tran Thi R (born in 1924) in the same village as Th walking by. Due to the need for money to drink, Th had an intention to take money from Mrs. R, so he got up and walked behind Mrs. R. Arriving, Th went close to the left of Mrs. R, wrapped her arms around Ms. R's stomach, and used her right hand to gently touch the money on her body. She then discovered that at the right waistband of her pants, there was a drawstring bag. Th took it out and saw a brown floral drawstring bag, about 5 x 8 cm, opened it, and found that inside the bag were 600,000 VND, including 6 bills of 100,000 VND denomination. Th's right hand holds the drawstring bag, the left hand pulls out all the money in the pocket and holds it in the left hand, and at the same time, the right hand puts the drawstring bag back into Mrs. R's pocket. Mrs. R discovered that Th took the drawstring bag from her waistband to get money, she clearly saw Th holding the money in her left hand and returning the drawstring bag to her left pocket. Mrs. R felt her drawstring bag and found no money left, so she hit Th's shoulder with her hand and said: "Th, why did you take six hundred thousand dong from me? Give me back, Th". Th said nothing, continued to walk slowly towards the house of Mrs. Nham Thi D, born in 1934 in the same village as Th's biological mother."

- Result of settlement: Sentencing defendant Pham Van Th 09 (nine) months in prison.

4. Judgment 53/2019/HS-PT dated April 22, 2019 on the crime of blatant appropriation of property

- Level of trial: Appellate.

- Judicial body: People's Court of Can Tho city.

- Quoted content: "On January 20, 2018, Le Thanh T and Trinh Minh Phuong were traveling in a truck with license plate number 67C-058.28. About 12:40 pm on the same day, the bus arrived at the T2 toll station in Thoi Hoa 1 area, T ward, district N, Can Tho city. T refused to buy a ticket but argued with the toll collector. T saw Ha Kim A (a toll collector) holding a Samsung A5 mobile phone, recording the quarrel, so he went to argue with A, then snatched the phone. Then, T drove the car towards Rach Gia city, Kien Giang province. The traffic and order police force of District N police chased and arrested T (BL. 72, 88). According to the valuation results, A's mobile phone is priced at VND 4,000,000."

- Result of settlement: Le Thanh T sentenced to 06 (six) months in prison.

5. Judgment 212/2020/HS-ST dated December 21, 2020 on the crime of blatant appropriation of property

- Level of trial: First instance.

- Judicial body: People's Court of Gia Lam district, Hanoi city.

- Quoted content: "Around 16:00, on September 13, 2020, Nguyen Duc C rode an electric bicycle down to Hoang Thi T's house in K, L village, Gia Lam, Hanoi city, to find friends. Because C's friend is not in the motel room, C waits for you. While waiting for a friend, C took a 500,000 VND bill and asked Mr. T to exchange it. Mr. T himself took the amount of VND 2,000,000 (including 10 bills of 200,000 VND) and gave it to C so that C could exchange the money himself. After holding Mr. T's money, C observed that Mr. T was old and unable to stop it, so C had the intention to appropriate the above-mentioned money. C holds the money and controls the e-bike on the street. Mr. T did not shout or take action to prevent C. On September 28, 2020, Mr. Dang Huu Van, Mr. T's son, filed a report to the police about the content of the above incident."

- Result of settlement: Penalized Nguyen Duc C for 12 months in prison.

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