Mobile trial to be held for land auction 'inflating' 30 billion VND/m2 in Hanoi

According to the decision of the Hanoi People's Court on March 6, regarding the case of "inflating" auctioned land prices up to 30 billion VND/m2, 6 defendants will be brought to a mobile trial at the Quang Tien Commune People's Committee Hall (Soc Son District, Hanoi) to create conditions for a large number of people to attend the trial. Thereby, contributing to warning, deterring and preventing similar violations of the law.

The defendants were brought to trial for violating regulations on property auction activities. They include: Pham Ngoc Tuan (born in 1991, in Dong Anh), Ngo Van Duong (born in 1991, in Dong Anh), Nguyen Thi Quynh Lien (born in 1981, in Dong Anh), Nguyen The Trung (born in 1994, in Dong Anh), Nguyen The Quan (born in 1994, in Dong Anh).

According to the indictment, in November 2024, when they learned that Thanh Xuan Joint Stock Company was preparing to auction land in Dong Lai village, Quang Tien commune (Soc Son district, Hanoi), from November 26 to 29, 2024, the defendants discussed and exchanged money to buy documents and paid deposits to register to participate in the auction of 58 land plots in Dong Lai village.

The group agreed that from the first round to the fourth round, the auction would be conducted in order, with bids below the price set by Tuan in advance. If the auction results in the fourth round showed that other bidders bid above the maximum price set by Tuan, then in the fifth round, the defendants would bid unusually high prices.

Then, in the 6th round, the defendants will not bid in order to make the auction fail, forcing a re-auction.

The investigation results determined that 36/58 plots of land were discussed and colluded by the group of Tuan, Duong, Thanh, Trung, Lien and Quan to intentionally raise the price of 36 plots of land in the 5th round with unusually high prices from 59,488,000/m2 to 30,002,488,000 VND/m2. By the 6th round, all 6 defendants above did not bid.

After the auctioneer announced the results of the 5th round, because Tuan's group bid unusually high, many customers cursed and disturbed the order in the auction area, believing that the subjects had disrupted the auction. Because the 6 defendants did not bid in the 6th round, the auction was unsuccessful.

The accusation is that the defendants' price-raising behavior violated Article 9, Clause 5 of the Law on Property Auction, resulting in a total loss of nearly 420 million VND, of which the Thanh Xuan Joint Stock Auction Company lost more than 252 million VND, and the 230 people who purchased auction documents lost more than 165 million VND.

Before the case was brought to trial, the defendants voluntarily compensated and remedied the consequences for Thanh Xuan Joint Stock Auction Company in the amount of more than 252 million VND.