Violating land management, former Chairman of Trang Liet Commune People's Committee goes to prison

On the morning of March 22, the People's Court of Hai Duong province held a first-instance trial of the criminal case against the defendants: Quach Van Hung (also known as Quach Thanh Hung, born in 1971, residing in Thuong area, former Chairman of Trang Liet Commune People's Committee), Tran Van Tuan (also known as Tran Tuan Hao, born in 1959, residing in Ha area, former official of Ke Sat Town People's Committee), Pham Manh Kim (born in 1983 in Trung area, former cadastral officer of Trang Liet Commune). All three live in Ke Sat Town, Binh Giang, and are involved in the illegal sale and exchange of 15 land lots that occurred between 2012 and 2018.

According to the indictment, from 2011 to 2019, Hung was the Chairman of the People's Committee of Trang Liet Commune (now the People's Committee of Ke Sat Town). In 2011, the People's Committee of Trang Liet Commune planned to repair and construct works in the area to build a new rural area, but the local budget was limited. Wanting to speed up the construction progress, at the end of 2011, Hung discussed with the Party Committee, People's Council, and People's Committee of the commune about finding non-budgetary funding sources to spend on this activity.

At the same time, the People's Committee of Binh Giang district decided to move the headquarters of Trang Liet Secondary School (now Ke Sat Town Secondary School) located on Au Co Street to a new location; assigned the People's Committee of Trang Liet commune to complete the procedures to hand over the headquarters of the old Secondary School to the commune's Kindergarten (now Ke Sat Town Kindergarten) for management and use.

After receiving the handover, Hung directed Kim (who was then a land official) to check the status of the adjacent plots of land between the old Trang Liet Secondary School and the nearby residential area in Ngai field, Ha area. The result was that the above plots of land were pond land, basic construction land, and other specialized land (school gymnasium) that had not been converted to residential land.

Knowing that the Commune People's Committee did not have the authority to allocate residential land with this area, Hung still decided to sell the land to households to build houses. Following Hung's instructions, Kim measured, calculated, divided this land into 15 lots with each lot's frontage being 4 - 5m wide and put it up for sale.

From 2012 to 2014, households met with Hung to buy 13 plots of land. Hung directly discussed and negotiated the purchase and sale price for each plot of land from 700 million VND to 1 billion VND/plot. Households wishing to buy land had to deposit 300 - 500 million VND/plot in advance. The remaining amount was paid when the Commune People's Committee handed over the land on the field for households to build houses.

Hung continued to direct Tuan, an office staff and commune treasurer, to directly collect money from households. The total amount of money collected from 13 households buying 13 plots of land above was 7.32 billion VND, with an area of ​​over 1,638 m². The subjects did not put this money into the state budget but self-managed, monitored and spent it on local activities under Hung's direction.

In addition to selling the 13 plots of land, Hung, Tuan, and Kim also exchanged land in other locations for 2 plots of land in the area for sale to 2 households. Of the total 15 plots of land sold and exchanged without authority, 14 families have now built houses to live in. To date, the above households have not been granted land use right certificates by competent authorities.

In order to legalize the unauthorized allocation and sale of land to households, at the end of 2013, Hung directed Kim to draft a plan to convert land use purposes and plan a new residential area on Au Co Street in the Ngai field area with an area of ​​nearly 1,600 m2.²This content is included in the 2013 land management report and the 2014 land use plan submitted to the 6th Session of the 18th Trang Liet Commune People's Council for approval, but was not then submitted to higher levels for approval.

In 2018 and 2019, the households requested the People's Committee of Trang Liet commune to carry out procedures to issue land use right certificates. Regarding this, Hung discussed with Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (former Chairman of Trang Liet commune People's Committee, term 2007 - 2011, former Chairman of Trang Liet commune People's Council, term 2011 - 2015) who had retired and Mr. Hung agreed to sign the land use right certificate for 6 lots. The land use right certificates signed had the time shown from 2007 - 2011. This action was aimed at pushing the land allocation time back to an earlier time so that Hung could later sign and submit documents and procedures to request the issuance of land use right certificates for households that were allocated land without authority.

In this case, Hung played the role of the director, implementer and was responsible for the unauthorized allocation, sale and transfer of land to 15 households. Tuan and Kim were accomplices in the role of assistants.

According to the presiding judge, the defendants’ criminal acts violated the State’s regulations on land management, causing damage to households and affecting security and order in the area. Although the defendants collected money from the people, they did not have the motive to appropriate it as their own property but to serve the common purpose of the locality. The defendants confessed honestly, admitted their guilt, and were conscious of remedying the consequences.

For the above crimes, the Provincial People's Court sentenced the defendants: Hung to 5 years and 6 months in prison, Tuan to 5 years in prison, and Kim to 4 years in prison for violating regulations on land management.

For households that have purchased or exchanged land, local authorities are responsible for resolving the matter according to regulations. Some cases related to the case will continue to be verified by authorities.