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Pho Vi Nhat, a former employee of China Airlines in Ho Chi Minh City, was arrested along with two current staff for allegedly stealing US$5.9 million from the airline
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Two employees of China Airlines’s representative office in Ho Chi Minh City and their former colleague have been arrested for allegedly stealing nearly US$6 million from the carrier.
Diep Kinh Chi, 28, the office’s accountant, Lu Cam Huy, 28, the cashier, and Pho Vi Nhat, 38, the former cashier, had falsified accounts since 2006 to appropriate the money, investigators from the Ministry of Public Security’s department of social crimes (C45B) said Tuesday.
They would only report part of the money they received from agents every day and pocket the rest, marking it down as dues owed by the agents, they said.
In 2009, after Nhat quit, the other two continued to siphon off money.
The trio allegedly stole $5.9 million and spent it on cars, houses, and lands.
An officer who wished to remain unnamed told Thanh Nien that they pocketed around VND60 million ($2,854) every day, but sometimes as much as VND200 million ($9,517).
They had remained undetected for so long mainly due to loopholes in the company’s management like giving too much authority to accountants who could approve expenses and incomes without asking the director, he said.
Besides, the company received money from its agents until evening while bank staff came to collect money at 1 p.m. every day.
The remaining cash was kept in the office safe, which made it easy for them, he added.