High Court orders house to be returned to director who has been appealing for 25 years

Mr. Cong (middle) was happy with his relatives because the Court declared that he would return his house on the afternoon of June 27 - Photo: AI NHAN

The Trial Panel has recognized the first instance judgment No. 436 (dated March 30, 2020) of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court to return the house at 317 Tran Binh Trong to the owner, Mr. Cong - director of Bitroco Company, who has been complaining for 25 years to reclaim the house as reported by Tuoi Tre Online .

Cancellation of round-trip sales, return of house

In March 1990, Bitroco signed a loan agreement with the Post Office Credit Cooperative for a total of 500 million VND to do business. Mr. Cong did not mortgage his house to the Post Office Cooperative.

By the end of 1990, Mr. Cong's principal and interest debt was 814 million VND. However, in December 1990, the Postal Cooperative sent a dispatch to the People's Committee of District 5, falsely declaring Bitroco's debt to be more than 1.7 billion VND and requesting the auction of Mr. Cong's house to recover the debt. Although from March 1990 to January 1991, Mr. Cong paid the Postal Cooperative more than 1.52 billion VND and 194 taels of gold (paying more than the debt of nearly 800 million VND and 194 taels of gold).

The Postal Cooperative on one hand transferred Mr. Cong’s case to the police for criminal prosecution. On the other hand, this unit auctioned off the house at 317 Tran Binh Trong to Ms. Trinh Tu Toan for 875 million VND and deducted the amount from Mr. Cong’s debt. In addition, Mr. Cong was also forced to sign a paper to sell the house to Ms. Toan for 240 million VND.

Although Mr. Cong repeatedly complained about the illegal sale of the house by the Postal Cooperative in many places and at many levels, it was not resolved. However, in 2008, Ms. Toan was still granted a certificate by the People's Committee of District 5 for the house and land at 317 Tran Binh Trong.

Immediately after receiving the certificate, Ms. Toan sold the house to Hai Duong Company Limited. Hai Duong Company sold it to Mr. Quach Chanh Sang (in 2009), Mr. Sang sold it to Mr. Nguyen Huu Dang (in 2019).

The first instance judgment recognized that the house was still the legal property of Mr. Cong (plaintiff), and annulled the house sale documents between Mr. Cong and the Postal Cooperative with Ms. Toan (defendant) as invalid. From there, the court also annulled the transactions and related documents of the house that arose afterwards because the first transaction was invalid.

There are signs of asset disposal.

House 317 Tran Binh Trong (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City) is still Mr. Cong's house according to the legally effective verdict - Photo: PHUONG NHI

After the first instance trial, Mr. Dang, Mr. Sang, and the Post and Telecommunications Group (who have related rights and obligations) appealed and the Ho Chi Minh City People's Procuracy also protested.

The appeal judgment No. 242 (July 2020) accepted the appeal and declared that the house belonged to Mr. Dang. Immediately after the appeal judgment, Mr. Dang sold the house to Mr. Truong Cong Minh.

In August 2022, the Supreme People's Court's final decision annulled the appeal judgment No. 242 because it was considered incorrect that the house belonged to Mr. Dang. The final decision requested a retrial and needed to clarify whether the new buyer, Mr. Minh, was bona fide or not to ensure Mr. Cong's rights.

At the appeal hearing on June 27, the Trial Panel found that Mr. Minh claimed that he bought the house from Mr. Dang for VND220 billion with his own money (VND80 billion) and was mortgaging it to a bank for a loan of VND140 billion to buy the house. However, at the hearing and many times the court requested evidence before, Mr. Minh and the representative of the lending bank did not have any documents or evidence to prove it.

Therefore, the Trial Panel believes that the sale of the house from Mr. Dang to Mr. Minh was not bona fide, showing signs of asset disposal (Mr. Cong's house).

At the same time, the Trial Panel also determined that in 2019, when Mr. Dang bought the house from Mr. Sang, the case was being handled by the court but Mr. Dang still bought the house, which was not bona fide and legal.

From there, the Trial Panel declared the house sale and purchase transactions between Mr. Dang and Mr. Minh null and void. The first instance judgment was upheld, and the appeals of Mr. Dang, Mr. Sang, the Post and Telecommunications Group, and the protest of the City People's Procuracy were rejected. Mr. Minh and the bank that was receiving the mortgage on the house were forced to return the house to Mr. Cong.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/toa-cap-cao-tuyen-tra-lai-nha-cho-giam-doc-25-nam-keu-oan-20240627170704816.htm