How did village officials in Binh Giang sell land without authority?

Village arbitrarily sells land

During the period from 2014 to 2017, taking advantage of the implementation of the policy of land consolidation, field improvement, and new rural construction, the leaders of 3 villages of Hong Khe commune, including Phu Da, Loi Tri, and An Dat, met and agreed to arbitrarily sell public land managed by the People's Committee of Hong Khe commune to households to raise funds to pay for the work of each village.

According to the investigation results of the Investigation Police Agency of Binh Giang District Police, from September to November 2016, in Phu Da village, Mr. Vu Quang Bau (born in 1955), Secretary of the Party Cell, although knowing that he did not have the authority to sell or lease public land, proposed a policy to assign the village leaders to review the interspersed land areas in the village to sell to the people. Implementing Mr. Bau's direction, Mr. Tran Van Khiem (born in 1949), Head of Phu Da village, reviewed the interspersed surplus land area, organized military-civilian-political-party meetings, and people's meetings to collect opinions on the time and form of land allocation and money collection. After that, this village sold more than 608 m²land for 4 households, earning more than 810 million VND. During the land sale process, Ms. Tran Thi Lan (born in 1975), holding the position of Deputy Secretary of the Party Cell and Treasurer, and Mr. Do Duc Tho (born in 1958), holding the position of Deputy Head of Phu Da Village, actively supported this.

From June 2014 to June 2017, in An Dat village, Mr. Duong Quoc Van (born in 1965) and Mr. Pham Xuan Huong (born in 1968) took turns holding the position of Party Cell Secretary and proposed a policy to assign the village leaders, headed by Mr. Vu Xuan Thuy (born in 1956), Village Chief, to review the interspersed land positions in the village for sale. After reviewing the land, Mr. Thuy organized military-civilian-political meetings, and meetings with the people to collect opinions on the time and form of land allocation and collection. The village organized 3 sales to 26 households with a total area of ​​over 15,251 m2.²public land collected more than 2.3 billion VND. At this time, Mr. Nguyen Van Dam (born in 1955), who held the position of People's Inspector in charge of An Dat village and also the treasurer of this village, also actively participated in collecting and managing money from unauthorized land sales.

From August 2014 to December 2016, in Loi Tri village, Mr. Vu Dinh Dac (born in 1964) and Mr. Nguyen Huu Lap (passed away in 2022), who held the position of Party Cell Secretary in turn, organized many meetings of the Party Cell and proposed a policy for the village leaders to review interspersed land locations to sell to raise funds for construction projects and to pay for land consolidation and land reclamation costs. To implement this policy, Mr. Vu Dinh Ca (born in 1966), Head of Loi Tri village, reviewed and organized expanded military-civilian-political meetings, meetings with all people, reported to the Party Cell and heads of departments in the village about the location, area, and price of public land areas and collected people's opinions on the form of land allocation and money collection. In 2016, Mr. Ca illegally sold 10,744 m3 of land 3 times.²land for 30 households, earning nearly 3.5 billion VND. During the time of selling the land, Mr. Nguyen Hoai Chuc (born in 1949) held the position of Party cell member and treasurer of Loi Tri village, actively participating in collecting and managing money.

Causing damage to the state budget of more than 1.8 billion VND

Faced with the situation of illegal land sales in the above 3 villages that has been going on for a long time, causing resentment and conflicts among the people, causing insecurity and disorder, many generations of leaders and commune officials remain indifferent.

From 2014 to 2020, Mr. Bui Duc Lap (born in 1963), Mr. Nguyen Huu Tam (born in 1975) held the positions of Chairman of the People's Committee, and Mr. Tran Duc Thinh (born in 1968) held the position of Vice Chairman of the People's Committee. Knowing about the illegal land sale in 3 villages, they issued documents directing and strictly prohibiting villages from illegally allocating land. However, they lacked responsibility in performing their assigned functions and tasks, did not closely direct, loosened land management, and failed to inspect and urge the work of subordinate officials, leading to the above violations.

Along with that, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hien (born in 1984), a Land Officer of Hong Khe Commune, lives in Loi Tri village but has not properly and fully performed his assigned duties and responsibilities, has no measures to grasp developments and situations related to land management and use, and prevents village officials from holding meetings to discuss and implement land sales and allocation. At the same time, he did not promptly propose handling, allowing violations to continue.

According to the investigation officer of Binh Giang District Police, it took a lot of time and effort to clarify the above case. Because the case happened a long time ago, occurred on a large scale, and involved many people, the investigation officer encountered many difficulties in collecting documents and evidence. Along with that, the number of land plots and large areas, with many different types of land, sometimes in one land plot there are many types... making the measurement and valuation work complicated. Some households were assigned land to work far from home, not present in the locality. The total area of ​​land that the leaders of the 3 villages sold without authority was more than 26,603 m2.² for 60 households, earning more than 6.6 billion VND. The above action caused a loss to the state budget of more than 1.8 billion VND.

After clarifying the case, the Investigation Police Agency of Binh Giang District Police decided to prosecute the above 15 subjects, in which the village officials were prosecuted for the crime of abuse of power while performing official duties, and the leaders and commune officials were prosecuted for the crime of lack of responsibility causing serious consequences. The case file has been transferred to the People's Court of Binh Giang District for trial in the coming time.