Appeal trial held for land-related wrongdoings in HCM City

HCM City (VNA) - The High-level People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City held an appeal trial on May 22 for four defendants - all former city officials - accused of “violating regulations on management and use of State assets, causing losses and waste.”

Wrongdoings in this case were found after an investigation into the now-jailed Phan Van Anh Vu (also known as Vu “nhom” and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bac Nam 79 Construction JSC and the Nova Bac Nam 79 JSC) and his accomplices was expanded.

In 2014, Vu, in the name of a “shell organisation of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS)’s General Department of Intelligence”, signed documents or proposed that MPS leaders request the HCM City People’s Committee assist and create conditions for him to rent State-managed land and a building at 15 Thi Sach Street to serve activities relating to the public security sector.

However, after receiving the land and the building from the HCM City People’s Committee, Vu did not use them for police activities but instead carried out construction at the prime location for his own self-interest.

When defendant Nguyen Huu Tin, who was then Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, received a request from the Bac Nam 79 Construction JSC to sign a lease for the land at 15 Thi Sach Street, he did not report the issue to the then Chairman of the People’s Committee but instead assigned the municipal Department of Natural Resource and Environment to give procedural guidance.

After that, Le Van Thanh (former Deputy Chief of the Office of the HCM City People’s Committee), Nguyen Thanh Chuong (former Head of the office’s Urban Division), Dao Anh Kiet (former Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment), and Truong Van Ut (former Deputy Head of the Land Management Division at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment) proposed Nguyen Huu Tin lease the land, sell the building, and reduce the rental for the land and the building at 15 Thi Sach Street, which ran counter to regulations.

At the first-instance trial last December, the HCM City People’s Court sentenced Nguyen Huu Tin to seven years in prison, Dao Anh Kiet to six years and six months, Truong Van Ut to five years, Le Van Thanh to four years, and Nguyen Thanh Chuong to three years for “violating regulations on management and use of State assets, causing losses and waste.”

Except for Tin, the four other defendants filed appeals seeking leniency.

The court is expected to issue a verdict later on May 22./.