Is criminal liability still pursued for theft of property when it has been returned?

Based on Clause 34, Article 1 of the 2017 Amended Criminal Code, which stipulates the Crime of Theft of Property as follows:

Any person who steals property of another person valued from VND 2,000,000 to under VND 50,000,000, or under VND 2,000,000 but falls into one of the following cases, shall be subject to non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or imprisonment from 06 months to 03 years:

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Additionally, based on Clause 1 of Article 155 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2015, which stipulates as follows:

A criminal case for the offences specified in Clause 1 of Articles 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 143, 155, 156, and 226 of the Criminal Code shall only be prosecuted at the request of the victim or the representative of the victim who is under 18 years old, has mental or physical disabilities, or has died.

Therefore, the return of the property to the victim does not constitute a basis for the dismissal of the case, moreover, it does not fall into the category of prosecutions at the request of the victim. Hence, the offender must still bear criminal responsibility according to the aforementioned legal provisions.

Best regards!