Lack of warehouse for preserving evidence for execution of judgment

Use the space under the stairs as a warehouse

Every year, the Ninh Giang District Civil Judgment Enforcement Office receives and manages many pieces of evidence for investigation, trial, prosecution and execution. Due to the lack of a storage warehouse, the enforcement agency has taken advantage of the space under the stairs and the unit's bathroom to store the evidence. Particularly for large pieces of evidence such as ships, boats, cars, trucks, etc., the unit must sign a contract to keep them in another place with adequate storage conditions. The monthly rental fee is quite large, the duration is long, causing a lot of expense to the state budget. Typically, in October 2022, the Ninh Giang District Civil Judgment Enforcement Office received evidence related to an economic and environmental case with a large amount of evidence that needed to be destroyed. Due to the lack of a storage warehouse and the limited space at the unit, a contract had to be signed for storage for 8 months.

According to Nguyen Thi My, the Storekeeper of the Ninh Giang District Civil Judgment Enforcement Office, the number of evidences transferred to the enforcement agency every year is large and diverse. Many of the evidences have special elements and are fragile because there is no evidence warehouse, so they must be stored together with other common evidences, posing many potential risks of insecurity. “We also regularly check the evidences to avoid theft or damage. Renting storage for evidences far from the office leads to difficulties in receiving and managing them,” said Ms. My.

The Thanh Ha District Civil Judgment Enforcement Office currently does not have a warehouse for preserving evidence. The district enforcement agency must use the agency's office and garage as a place to store evidence. According to Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha, Head of the Thanh Ha District Civil Judgment Enforcement Office, the evidence warehouse is an important physical facility for gathering, storing, and preserving evidence, objects, and other documents collected from cases. Due to limited budget, there has not been any funding allocated to build an evidence warehouse. "Preserving evidence by renting or utilizing offices and garages as is currently the case is only a temporary solution. We recommend and hope that in the coming time, all levels will pay attention to supporting the unit to soon build a warehouse that complies with regulations, serving the enforcement work well," said Mr. Ha.

According to the Civil Judgment Enforcement Department of Hai Duong province, by the end of 2023, the whole province will have 4 units receiving funding from the Ministry of Justice and the General Department of Judgment Enforcement to build solid evidence warehouses, including the provincial Civil Judgment Enforcement Department, the Civil Judgment Enforcement Department of Hai Duong city, Chi Linh city and Thanh Mien district. As of June 2024, the whole province still has 5 district-level Judgment Enforcement Departments that do not have evidence storage warehouses, including Thanh Ha, Ninh Giang, Kim Thanh, Tu Ky and Binh Giang. The Judgment Enforcement Departments of Kinh Mon town and Cam Giang already have warehouses, but the area is still quite small, from 50-80 m2. The warehouse keeper at some district-level Judgment Enforcement Departments also holds the positions of treasurer and enforcement officer...

Early attention to removal

Preservation and management of evidence and assets temporarily held in civil enforcement are very important. However, investment in construction still faces many difficulties.

On December 28, 2023, the Provincial Party Standing Committee issued Directive No. 48-CT/TU on the tasks of civil judgment enforcement and administrative judgment enforcement monitoring in 2024, including directing early investment in the construction of evidence storage warehouses.

Up to now, the construction of working offices, including evidence warehouses of the Civil Judgment Enforcement Offices of Tu Ky and Kim Thanh districts has been included in the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2020-2025 of the sector. Recently, the People's Committees of some districts have paid attention to supporting funding for the construction of evidence warehouses such as Gia Loc, Cam Giang, Nam Sach and Kinh Mon town.

However, the implementation of the directive of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee is still slow due to limited funding or the lack of land planning for warehouse construction. Requesting financial support from higher levels is still difficult, mainly because the local budget is allocated to support new construction and renovation.

At the supervision meeting of the Provincial People's Council and the Provincial National Assembly Delegation last May, the enforcement agency also continued to point out difficulties and shortcomings in the lack of storage for evidence at the grassroots level, and at the same time recommended that competent authorities remove the difficulties.

The provincial Civil Judgment Enforcement Department has directly discussed with the leaders of Ninh Giang, Thanh Ha, and Binh Giang districts to request support for funding to build evidence warehouses. The unit also requested the People's Committees of the districts to review the planning and arrange suitable areas to include in the public investment plan for the construction of headquarters (including evidence warehouses) in the period of 2026-2030. As for the Thanh Ha District Civil Judgment Enforcement Department, the current area and location basically meet the current public investment needs.

The provincial Civil Judgment Enforcement Department has also proposed that the General Department of Judgment Enforcement, the Provincial Party Committee, the People's Council, and the Provincial People's Committee provide financial support and that localities prioritize capital sources to speed up the investment progress in building warehouses to preserve missing evidence.

NGHIA AN