Accounting reviews the statement and finds the corporate credit card used for personal flights, weekend hotels and purchases with no invoices. The legal question is not whether the money comes back, but from whom: the issuing bank, or the employee — and through which mechanism.
Duty to the bank: the company still pays first
A corporate credit card sits on a contract between the company and the bank; transactions by the authorised cardholder within the limit are charged to the company’s obligation, even where the employee breached internal purpose rules. Misuse is a matter between company and employee — the bank has no duty to sort business from personal spending, apart from third-party fraud reported promptly under the card terms. The practical result: the company settles the statement on time to protect its credit standing and avoid penalty interest, and pursues recovery on the internal front. Where the company is slow to report a lost card or suspicious transactions, the card terms may shift that slice of risk onto the company.
Recovering from the employee: labour compensation and criminal signs
Internally, misused spending is damage caused by an employee, handled under Article 129 of the Labour Code 45/2019/QH14: compensation follows the degree of fault, negligence-based compensation is capped at three months’ salary, and monthly wage deduction may not exceed thirty percent of pay after compulsory items under Article 102 of the Labour Code. Labour discipline runs alongside under the internal rules — from reprimand to dismissal depending on how the misuse is classified there. Where intentional appropriation of a significant sum is indicated, the matter can cross from internal handling into criminal liability for fraud or abuse-of-trust appropriation offences under the Penal Code — the decision to report should rest on the evidence file, not be used as a bargaining threat in recovery talks.
Fixing the system so it does not recur
- Retrieve the physical card and freeze the limit on discovery, and archive every statement and transaction record as the evidence file.
- Issue a written card policy: permitted spend categories, limits by role, a five-business-day document duty and explicit sanctions.
- Separate duties: the cardholder is never the voucher approver, and accounting reconciles card statements against budget monthly, not quarterly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Must the company still pay the bank?
Yes — transactions within the limit by the entrusted cardholder are the company’s obligation toward the bank; purpose misuse is an internal dispute with the employee, apart from genuine third-party fraud reported promptly under the card terms.
How is money recovered from the employee?
Under Article 129 of the Labour Code the employee compensates by degree of fault — negligence capped at three months’ salary — with deductions limited to thirty percent of monthly pay under Article 102; excess amounts or intentional cases proceed by repayment agreement or civil suit.
Can it become a criminal case?
Possibly, where signs of intentional appropriation meet the Penal Code offences such as fraud or abuse of trust to appropriate assets; build the evidence file before reporting, and do not use reporting as negotiation leverage.
When should the bank be notified?
Stop use and notify immediately on spotting abnormal transactions; notice timing decides risk allocation with the bank under the card terms and preserves refund possibilities for genuine fraud.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council