Expats buying cars under other’s name: be careful

Overseas Vietnamese asking people in the country to buy properties for them may end up losing them due to a loophole in the law.

A complaint by a Tuoi Tre reader, Chernicki Ngoc Anh (overseas Vietnamese in US) against Phan Anh Tam, a cai luong artist based in District 8, for stealing her car is so good an example.

According to Ngoc Anh, she met Tam on her trip to seek business opportunity in Vietnam years ago.

In 2009, after returning to the US, Ngoc Anh asked Tam to buy a car for her in Vietnam. She then transferred a total sum of US$40,000 to him via banking services.

Upon receiving Ngoc Anh’s cash, Tam bought a Honda Civic car and had it registered under his name.

However, when Ngoc Anh returned to Vietnam, Tam just played mouse and cat with her, refusing to return neither the car nor the refund at her request.

Tam admitted to Tuoi Tre that he had received money from Ngoc Anh, but claiming that such money was a gift from her when the two were about to get married.

“Ngoc Anh knew that I was using a rental car, so she bought me that car as a gift,” he said.

“She also knew that the car was registered under my name, and we used to travel together on that car but she just didn’t complain anything about that,” he added.

Tam said he did try to contact with Ngoc Anh to solve the problem, but was not replied.

“I’m willing to return the car to her, as long as she stops putting me to court and gives me an apology,” he said.

No law regarding the issue

In an article written exclusively to Tuoi Tre, lawyers Huynh Van Nong and Le Ngoc Thuong said that cases like Ngoc Anh’s are quite common in Vietnam.

To own a car in Vietnam, foreigners, including overseas Vietnamese, have to prove that they have Vietnamese origin or nationality, or that they have investment and business in Vietnam.

Because of such requirement, overseas people usually ask the Vietnamese to buy things under his or her name. The overseas Vietnamese will transfer money back for the Vietnamese to purchase things.

In such cases, it’s likely that the people in Vietnam steal the transferred money or the purchased properties, saying that these are gifts from the overseas, while the “victims” claim that they just lend money to the people in the country.

What matters the most is that there is no evidence to prove what the transferred money is really for: lending as loan or offering as gift, since there is no contract between the two parties.

According to the two lawyers, there are two ways to solve the problem, depending on the decision of the judges.

If the judge agrees that the money transferred is for the people in the country to buy properties on the overseas’ behalf, the properties will go to the overseas Vietnamese’s possession if he or she meets the requirements to possess properties in Vietnam. Otherwise, the properties will be auctioned for money to refund the overseas Vietnamese.

However, if the judge considers such money transaction as against the law, the purchased properties will be auctioned to refund money to the overseas Vietnamese.

Because there is no legal regulation regarding the dispute between the foreigners (and also overseas Vietnamese) and the Vietnamese in buying things under the Vietnamese’s name, such dispute is more and more common in Vietnam. – Tuoitre

Posted by VBN on May 4 2011. Filed under Automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry