Vietnam: 7 cases of obtaining another person's property assessed at under VND 2,000,000 shall be criminally handled

Hello Ms. Hong, for your request, LawNet would like to give answer as following:

According to Clause 1 Article 174 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam amended in 2017, cases of obtaining another person's property assessed at under VND 2,000,000 shall be criminally handled, including:

"Article 174. Obtaining property by fraud

1. A person who uses deception to obtain another person's property which is 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 theft of property or any of the criminal offences specified in Article 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 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."

In addition, according to Article 5 Section 2 of the Joint Circular No. 02/2001/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BCA-BTP dated December 12 2001 ngày 25-12-2001 guiding the application of a provisions in Chapter XIV of the Criminal Code 1999, with the following provisions:

"5. In case a person commits the same type of property infringement many times, but each time the property value is infringed below the minimum level for criminal prosecution according to the provisions of the Criminal Code and is not one of the other cases for criminal prosecution (causing serious consequences; having been administratively sanctioned; having been convicted but not yet entitled to criminal record remission...), and at the same time, upon the violations, that person has not been penalized of administrative sanction and the the prescriptive period has not expired, if the total property value of all the infringing times is equal to or above the minimum level for criminal prosecution according to the provisions of the Criminal Code, the person who repeats the same type of act of infringing upon property shall be examined for criminal prosecution for the corresponding crime according to the total property value of the infringing times, if:

a) Property infringement acts are performed continuously, successively in terms of time.

b) The performance of acts of infringing upon property is professional, taking the property resulting from the property infringement as the main source of livelihood.

c) For the purpose of infringing upon property, but due to objective circumstances, the infringement of property must be done many times, so the value of the infringed property each time is less than 500,000 VND.”

The Joint Circular No. 02/2001/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BCA-BTP is now expired. However, the Official Dispatch No. 64/TANDTC-PC in 2019 on results of the nationwide online session to answer some questions regarding criminal, civil and administrative proceedings guildes to apply the Joint Circular No. 02/2001/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BCA-BTP to determine the crime of property infringement.

Together with the above provisions, in the actual adjudication of the Court, specifically in the Judgment No. 110/2020/HS-ST dated November 30, 2020 on the crime of fraud to appropriate property, Joint Circular No. 02/2001/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BCA-BTP is also applied.

Therefore: According to Article 174 of the Criminal Code 2015 and the Joint Circular No. 02/2001/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BCA-BTP, there are 7 cases of obtaining another person's property assessed at under VND 2,000,000 shall be criminally handled, including:

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

- The offender has an unspent conviction for theft of property or any of the criminal offences specified in Article 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 175 and 290 hereof;

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

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

- Property infringement acts are performed continuously, successively in terms of time;

- The performance of acts of infringing upon property is professional, taking the property resulting from the property infringement as the main source of livelihood;

- For the purpose of infringing upon property, but due to objective circumstances, the infringement of property must be done many times, so the value of the infringed property each time is less than 500,000 VND. 

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