How much fine for owners of pawn shops holding motorbikes without legitimate owners in Vietnam?

How much fine for owners of pawn shops holding motorbikes without legitimate owners in Vietnam?

In Clauses 3 and 7, Article 12 of Decree 144/2021/ND-CP, violations against regulations on management of business lines subject to security and order conditions are prescribed as follows:

3. A fine ranging from 5.000.000 VND to 10.000.000 VND shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Failure to maintain fulfillment of security and order conditions throughout business operation;

b) Including false information in documents in order to obtain the certificate of security and order;

c) Forging documents in order to obtain the certificate of security and order;

d) Falsifying the certificate of security and order or certificate of security guard training;

dd) Lending, leasing out, selling, buying the certificate of security and order;

e) Doing business at a location other than that specified in the certificate of security and order;

g) Giving the seal to the customer without transferring it to a competent police authority for registration as prescribed by law;

h) Providing the seal design of a organization to unauthorized persons;

i) Receive collateral without making a mortgage contract as prescribed by law;

k) Receive collateral without retention of the pledged property or original copy of the certificate of ownership of the pledged property at the business establishment throughout the mortgage period if such certificate of ownership is required by law;

l) Receiving collateral that is owned by another person without valid authorization of the owner to the mortgagor;

m) Selling or providing emergency signaling devices for entities that do not have the license to use these devices or entities whose licenses are not suitable for these devices;

m) Manufacturing, importing, buying, selling emergency signaling devices that exceed the standards for sound and brightness of horns and lights as prescribed by law;

o) Employing a foreigner or a Vietnamese national who resides overseas as the person in charge of security and order of the private security company or to directly operate the business or as a private security guard;

p) Failure to provide or provide proper clothing and signs for private security guards as prescribed by law;

q) Providing security services without signing contracts with clients;

r) Buying or selling mobile signal jammers to an organization or individual that has not obtain a license or written approval from a competent authority;

s) Failure to hire or hire an adequate number of security guards who are employees of the private security company during operation of a night club, an establishment providing electronic prize-winning games for foreigners, or a casino as prescribed by law;

t) Hiring a private security guard who has not obtained the certificate of security guard training.

7. Remedial measures:

a) Mandatory return of the illegal profits earned from commission of the administrative violations specified in Points dd, i, k, l, m, n and r Clause 3; Points d, dd and k Clause 4 and Point b Clause 5 of this Article;

b) Mandatory return of the certificate of security and order or certificate of security guard training in case of violations specified in Point d Clause 3 of this Article.

Thus, the owner of the pawn shop will have right to pledge the property without the owner if there is a valid authorization of the owner for the person to bring the property to pledge. In your case, the owner of the pawn shop held the motorbike without your valid authorization for your friend in Vietnam.

According to this Article, pawnshop owners will be fined from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000. In addition, the pawnshop owner must also pay back the illegal profits obtained from pledging your motorbike in Vietnam.

If my friend borrow my motorbike and use it as a pledge, will my friend be liable for criminal prosecution in Vietnam? 

Pursuant to Article 175 of the Penal Code 2015 as amended by Clause 35, Article 1 of the Law amending the Penal Code 2017 stipulates abuse of trust to appropriate property as follows:

1. A person who commits any of the following acts to obtain another person property which is assessed at from VND 4,000,000 to under VND 50,000,000, or under VND 4,000,000 while having incurred an administrative penalty for property appropriation or while having an unspent conviction for this offence or any of the crimes specified in Article 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174 and 290 hereof, or the property obtained is the primary means of livelihood of the victim or the victim’s family shall face a penalty of up to 03 years' community sentence or 06 - 36 months' imprisonment:

a) Taking a loan, borrowing, leasing property of another person or receiving property of another person under a contract, then uses deception to appropriate it or refuses to repay the loan or return the property when the repayment or return of property is due despite he/she is capable of doing so;

b) Taking a loan, borrowing, leasing property of another person or receiving property of another person under a contract and then uses it for illegal purposes which result in the offender's inability to repay the loan or return the property.

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

a) The offence is committed by an organized group;

b) The offence is committed in a professional manner;

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

d) The offence involves abuse of the offender's position or power or committed in the name of an agency or organization;

dd) The offender employs deceitful methods to commit the offence;

e) The offence has a negative impact on social security, order or safety;

g) Dangerous recidivism.

3. If the property illegally obtained is assessed at from VND 200,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000, the offender shall face a penalty of 05 - 12 years' imprisonment.

4. If the property illegally obtained is assessed at from ≥ VND 500,000,000, the offender shall face a penalty of 12 - 20 years' imprisonment.

5. The offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 or prohibited from holding certain positions or doing certain jobs for 01 - 05 years or have part or all of his/her property confiscated.

Therefore, your friend borrowed your motorbike and used it as a pledge, but the motorbike was worth 42 million VND, so your friend could be liable for criminal prosecution in Vietnam. You will be sentenced to community sentence for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years. In addition, you may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000.

Best Regards!