Prosecution of former Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee Le Tien Phuong and 16 other defendants

This is a particularly serious case occurring in the field of state management of land in Binh Thuan province.

The Supreme People's Procuracy prosecuted former Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee Le Tien Phuong for "Violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste".

In addition to defendant Le Tien Phuong, a number of other defendants who are former leaders were also prosecuted for the above crime, including: Nguyen Ngoc (former Standing Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province), Xa Duong Thang (former Director of the Department of Construction of Binh Thuan province, former Secretary of the Bac Binh District Party Committee), Ho Lam (former Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Binh Thuan province), Do Ngoc Diep (former Chairman of the People's Committee of Phan Thiet city), Nguyen Van Phong (former Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province), Le Quang Vinh (former Secretary of the District Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Quy district), Nguyen Van Phong (former Deputy Director of the Department of Finance, former Standing Member of the Land Valuation Council of Binh Thuan province)...

According to the indictment, during the process of implementing the Phan Thiet coastal urban tourism project, in his capacity as Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province and Chairman of the Provincial Land Valuation Council, Mr. Le Tien Phuong directly approved the local adjustment of the Phan Thiet City Master Plan, granted a planning license to the investor to establish a construction plan for the Phan Thiet coastal urban tourism project, and approved the conversion of the land use purpose of Phan Thiet golf course to urban residential land to invest in the construction of the Phan Thiet coastal urban tourism area.

According to the indictment, in his position as Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province and Chairman of the Provincial Land Valuation Council, Mr. Le Tien Phuong is a person with capacity, qualifications and experience in State management in the fields of economy, land, investment, planning-construction, appraisal and approval of land prices to calculate land use fees; directing, operating and managing all activities and all aspects of the province's work in general... Mr. Le Tien Phuong clearly knows the detailed planning project and land use structure in the Phan Thiet coastal urban tourism area; he also knows that he must comply with the provisions of the 2013 Land Law and the regulations of the Government and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment when determining specific land prices to calculate land use fees for more than 363,000m2 of land to convert land use purposes.

However, Mr. Le Tien Phuong and other defendants violated regulations and still signed and issued a decision approving land prices at the Phan Thiet coastal urban tourism project at a price of more than 2.5 million VND/m2, contrary to regulations, causing damage to the State budget.

The appraisal showed that the act of approving the price of more than 10 hectares of land for high-rise planning in the project was against regulations, causing a loss of more than 154 billion VND. The valuation of more than 25 hectares of low-rise houses was also against the law, causing an additional loss of 154 billion VND. The investigation agency therefore determined that the defendants caused a total loss of more than 308 billion VND.

Committing the crime with defendant Le Tien Phuong, the other defendants had different roles, intentionally violated their assigned tasks in the process of building and appraising land price plans, and did not base their calculations on the approved detailed planning...