The case unfolded at a retail branch of Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company (PNJ) located in the Aeon Mall Long Bien shopping center. All three defendants were employees at the store.
Among them, 35-year-old Nguyen Thi Thu—who received a 22-month suspended prison sentence in 2023 for organizing gambling—faces indictment for embezzlement of property. Former store manager Nguyen Huu Hong, 34, and former cashier Nguyen Thi Ngoc Nhi, 28, are charged with negligence resulting in damage to enterprise assets.
According to the indictment, Thu served as store accountant at the PNJ branch from June 1 to December 8, 2024. PNJ policy dictates that retail patrons settle purchases via cash, card terminals, or direct transfers to company-owned bank accounts. Exploiting the trust of colleagues and retail sales consultants, Thu convinced team members to direct customers to transfer purchase funds into her personal account, or into retail associates’ accounts before routing the money to her.
Thu also claimed to sales staff that she was buying jewelry for personal use, asking them to generate invoices under actual customers’ details. After collecting the merchandise, Thu pledged to remit payments to the corporate account but never followed through. She subsequently resold the gold and jewelry back to PNJ on different dates or pawned the items at partner pawnshops handling jewelry for PNJ.
Manipulating Accounting Ledgers
To conceal the stolen sums, the former accountant fabricated and reconciled financial records.
According to commercial lease agreements between PNJ and Aeon Mall Long Bien, premises rental fees are calculated as a percentage of gross monthly sales. At the end of each operational day, the store accountant must report total revenue and hand over all cash takings to Aeon management.
On the 15th and 30th of each month, both corporate entities conduct revenue reconciliation audits. After deducting tenant operating fees, Aeon remits the residual balance into PNJ’s official corporate account.
Exploiting these settlement protocols, Thu altered internal bookkeeping data within enterprise accounting software. Her modifications recorded the missing funds as pending receivables, making it appear that Aeon Mall still owed PNJ debts equivalent to the stolen amounts.
Law enforcement authorities determined that through these accounting manipulations over a six-month tenure, Thu embezzled 20 billion VND linked to commercial retail transactions across 682 individual customer accounts at the Aeon Mall Long Bien branch.
During police interrogations, Thu confessed to wagering the entire embezzled sum on online dice gambling (tài xỉu), losing every single dong.
However, investigators were unable to collect independent documentation or corroborating digital evidence tracing the stolen funds into illicit gambling networks. Consequently, judicial bodies found insufficient legal grounds to formally charge Thu with gambling offenses.
Fraud Went Undetected for Six Months
The indictment further determined that the former branch manager and cashier failed to perform on-site physical audits of customer revenue. Instead, they relied blindly on sales consultants and bookkeeping declarations entered on sales receipts. This lack of oversight led to invoices being issued without underlying corporate receipts, resulting in direct asset damages exceeding 9 billion VND for PNJ.
Following a preliminary review of case files, defendant testimonies, and statements from related parties, the Hanoi People’s Court remanded the dossier back to prosecutors for supplementary investigation.
The court instructed investigators to clarify discrepancies in the amounts attributed to parties with related rights and obligations. Judicial authorities also ordered a review of the responsibilities borne by frontline sales consultants and regional supervisors charged with monitoring, auditing, and overseeing commercial activities at the PNJ Aeon Mall Long Bien branch throughout the six-month embezzlement scheme.
Source: vnexpress.net
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