HOW IS THE CRIME OF COMMISSION OF FRAUD IN PERFORMANCE OF DUTIES HANDLED?

Table of Contents:

  1. What is commission of fraud in performance of duties?
  2. How is the crime of commission of fraud in performance of duties handled?
  3. Differences between the crime of Commission of fraud in performance of duties and the crime of Fabricating an organization’s seal or documents and use thereof

1. What is commission of fraud in performance of duties?

Commission of fraud in performance of duties is the act of a person, for personal gain or motives, taking advantage of his position and authority to correct or distort the content of papers, documents, signatures of people with positions and authority, or to make or issue fake papers. In which:

– Correcting or distorting the content of a document is the act of erasing, adding, omitting or using other means to make the content of that document no longer true to its original content.

– Correcting or falsifying the content of a document is the act of adding, subtracting or using other means to make the content of that document not true to its original content, changing the right into wrong as in the case of correcting documents.

– Making fake documents is the act of taking advantage of one’s position and authority to create documents with content that is not true to objective reality. In other words, these are documents that are not real and not issued by a competent State agency.

– Issuing fake documents is the act of taking advantage of one’s assigned position and authority to issue documents to an agency, organization or individual that the offender knows for sure are fake documents.

– Forging a signature is the act of a person holding a position and authority and taking advantage of his/her position and authority to forge another person’s signature.

2. How is the crime of commission of fraud in performance of duties handled?

Pursuant to Article 359 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2019, anyone who, for personal gain or other personal motives, takes advantage of his/her position or power to commit one of the following acts of forgery in work shall be prosecuted for criminal liability:

“Article 359. Commission of fraud in performance of duties

1. Any person who, for personal gain or other self-seeking purposes, abuses his/her position or power to commit any of the following acts shall face a penalty of 01 – 05 years’ imprisonment:

a) Falsifying a document;

b) Fabricating a document or issuing a fabricated document;

c) Forging an office holder’s signature.

2. This offence committed in any of the following cases shall carry a penalty of 03 – 10 years’ imprisonment:

a) The offence is committed by an organized group;

b) The offender is the person in charge of making or issuing documents;

c) The offence involves 02 – 05 fabricated documents.

3. This offence committed in any of the following cases shall carry a penalty of 07 – 15 years’ imprisonment:

a) The offence involves 05 – 10 fabricated documents;

b) The offence is meant to serve the commission of a less serious crime or serious crime.

4. This offence committed in any of the following cases shall carry a penalty of 12 – 20 years’ imprisonment:

a) The offence involves ≥ 11 fabricated documents;

b) The offence is meant to serve the commission of very serious crime or extremely serious crime.

5. The offender might also be liable to a fine of VND 10,000,000 – VND 100,000,000 or prohibited from holding certain positions or doing certain jobs for 01 – 05 years.”

3. Differences between the crime of Commission of fraud in performance of duties and the crime of Fabricating an organization’s seal or documents and use thereof

– Commission of fraud in performance of duties:

The subject of impact is the papers, documents and signatures of people with positions and powers. The offender has impacted the papers, documents and signatures to be distorted and not true to reality. The subject of infringement is the proper activities of the agency or organization, causing the agency or organization to weaken and lose its reputation.

– For the crime of Fabricating an organization’s seal or documents and use thereof:

The subject of impact: fake papers and documents. The subject of infringement is the normal activities of agencies and organizations in the field of administrative management, specifically seals and documents.