3 generations of commune chairmen sold land against regulations?
(Baonghean) - According to the investigation of Nghe An Newspaper reporters, there have been many land violations occurring in My Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), including the commune selling land to households living on both sides of National Highway 7 for nearly 15 years now.
Openly selling land against regulations
For many months now, Mr. Nguyen Van Tien (48 years old, My Thanh commune), has been regularly "persuaded" by commune officials to return his land to the government. In return, the commune will refund both the principal and interest that he spent to buy the land previously. Mr. Tien is one of hundreds of households in My Thanh commune living along both sides of National Highway 7 that have been sold additional land by the commune's leaders to expand their land area over the past 15 years.
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| The land behind that people accused the commune of selling to households. Photo: Tien Hung |
“They said they would refund the full amount, but I did not agree,” said Mr. Tien. Many years ago, Mr. Nguyen Van Tien bought a plot of land on National Highway 7 with an area of 105 square meters (7 meters wide, 15 meters high) to do carpentry business. A few years ago, like many other households, Mr. Tien heard that the commune government was selling the land behind his house, in Cay Mut field. “Because I wanted to expand the area, I went to ask and after several negotiations, the price was set at 35 square meters for 15 million VND,” said Mr. Tien: the 35 square meters he bought was 7 meters wide and 5 meters long, connecting from the old land that Mr. Tien had bought before. At that time, Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh was the Chairman of the People's Committee of My Thanh commune.
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| Mr. Nguyen Van Tien's family bought an additional plot of land from the commune for 15 million VND. Photo: Pham Bang |
Similar to Mr. Tien, the family of Ms. Luu Thi Hue (42 years old) nearby also resolutely refused to cancel the land sale contract to return it to the commune. Despite being persuaded many times by commune officials. "They even held a meeting to invite me and many other people to attend to persuade them," Ms. Hue said. This woman said that about 3 years ago, like other households living along National Highway 7 through My Thanh commune, she decided to spend tens of millions of dong to buy more land behind, to expand the area they were living in. After her husband returned from working abroad, her family built a solid 3-storey house on this land. "The sale contract is clear. Now that we have built it solidly, who will compensate? How can we return it?" Ms. Hue said.
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| The land that the commune illegally sold to Ms. Hue's family has now been used to build a solid 3-storey house. Photo: Tien Hung |
Realizing the irregularities in the illegal land sale by the commune leaders, many people in hamlet 12 filed a complaint to the authorities. According to Mr. Ho Sy Vy's complaint, one of the petitioners said that the number of land plots that the People's Committee of My Thanh commune sold through many chairmen was over 100 plots, including residential land, agricultural land, and forestry land. "For many years, the commune leaders have illegally converted and sold hundreds of land plots in the Cay Mut area, the cultural house area of hamlet 12, the rice field area of Cay De in hamlet 12, the Ve Khoi area, the Ke market area, the Coconut tree area, the primary school gate area, the Ba Bay sacred mountain area... We have sent a petition to the People's Committee of Yen Thanh district but have not received a specific response, so we have to continue sending the petition to higher levels," said Mr. Vy.
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| Mr. Ho Sy Vy (left) works with reporters. Photo: Pham Bang |
After some people discovered the incident and filed a complaint with the authorities, the leaders of My Thanh commune finally convinced the people to return the land. However, most of the people did not agree. Only a small number of village and commune officials or relatives of commune leaders agreed to receive the money back to cancel the sale contract and return the land to the commune.
Commune leaders also buy land illegally?
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| The two adjacent villas of Mr. Nguyen Van Nam's family - former Chairman of the People's Committee of My Thanh commune - are said to have been built on land that the commune sold illegally. Photo: Tien Hung |
Not only Mr. Tien and Ms. Hue, according to the investigation of Nghe An Newspaper reporters, there are many households that were sold land by the leaders of My Thanh commune against regulations. The incident took place from 2004, when Mr. Nguyen Van Nam was the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, to the period when Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh and now Nguyen Van Thach. These plots of land cost from 15 to 25 million VND, especially one plot worth up to 150 million VND. It is worth mentioning that among the households that bought land against regulations, there are also Mr. Nguyen Van Nam - former Chairman of the Commune People's Committee and Mr. Nguyen Van Thach - current Chairman of the My Thanh Commune People's Committee. "Both of these men bought more to expand the area. When they were denounced, the commune's cadastral officers came to measure, according to my investigation, it has now been converted to a land lease contract", Mr. Ho Sy Vy, the person who filed a complaint about land violations in My Thanh commune, denounced.
Not only selling land for people to expand their area, according to the reporter's investigation, the leaders of My Thanh commune also secretly sold many plots of land that were originally farmland according to Decree 64. Talking to the reporter about these issues, Mr. Nguyen Van Thach admitted that "the commune sold some plots of land against regulations". However, the Chairman of the People's Committee of this commune refused to provide further details and said he was busy.
Previously, Nghe An Newspaper also published an article “Shady matters in the encroached land” reflecting many violations in the sale and lease of land by the leaders of My Thanh commune. Accordingly, many plots of land in the land encroached by My Thanh people in Hoa Son commune were leased and sold by My Thanh leaders against regulations...
Talking to Nghe An Newspaper about the issue of people accusing the leaders of My Thanh commune of selling land without authority, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Ha - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee said that this content is complicated so the district has transferred the file to Yen Thanh District Police to investigate and clarify. Currently, the investigation agency is involved so there is no final conclusion yet.
