HÀ NỘI — The Hà Nội People’s Court on Friday sentenced Chinese national to two years in prison for forgery, after he worked illegally in Việt Nam and even fooled his work colleagues into thinking he was Vietnamese.

Li Ye Sheng, a Chinese native was accused of “forging documents of agencies, organisations” in line with Point c, Clause 2, Article 341 of the Penal Code 2015.

He will also be deported from Việt Nam after serving his sentence. 

Li Ye Sheng, who speaks fluent Vietnamese, said he hired people to forge personal papers bearing Vietnamese names to work and rent a room at a house.

According to the indictment, when the Hà Nội police conducted administrative inspections at House No.23, Alley 223, Đại Mỗ Street in Đại Mỗ Ward at 10:30pm on December 11, 2020, they found that Li had failed to follow immigration procedures in line with regulations. 

He presented an identity card and a driver’s license bearing the name Lê Nghiệp Sinh, 50, residing in An Sinh Commune, Đông Triều District, Quảng Ninh Province. He also told the police he was Vietnamese. 

Suspecting that his personal papers were fake, the police took him into custody and he later admitted that he is a Chinese national and entered Việt Nam illegally in February 2020. 

While working for Hương Linh company in May 2020, he bought the fake personal papers at a cost of VNĐ11.5 million (US$500) from an unknown man he met through social media, with an aim to stay and work for a long period of time in Việt Nam. He did so knowing his actions were a violation of Vietnamese law. 

During his stay in the rented house, he did not report to local authorities. Nobody suspected he was Chinese, including his landlord and colleagues. — VNS