Thanh An - Thanh Chuong commune "officials" appear in court

(Baonghean.vn) - On June 17 and 18, 2013, the Provincial People's Court brought the first instance criminal case to trial against the defendants of Thanh Chuong district: Nguyen Van Luong (born May 25, 1963), hometown Thanh Khe commune, former Secretary of Thanh An commune Party Committee, former Deputy Head of Propaganda Department of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee; Nguyen Huu Duc (born November 14, 1962), from Thanh Hoa commune, former chairman of Thanh An commune People's Committee, former head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Chuong district and Tran Van Dinh, (born April 7, 1949), from Thanh An commune - former cadastral officer of Thanh An commune, was charged with "Abusing position and power while performing official duties" and "Abusing power while performing official duties". Nguyen Cong Duc (born April 20, 1967), from Thanh An commune - former chairman of Thanh An commune People's Committee (at this time Nguyen Huu Duc had transferred to work as head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) was charged with "Abusing power while performing official duties".

The indictment of the Provincial People's Procuracy stated: From 2004 to 2006, taking advantage of their positions and powers, Nguyen Van Luong and Nguyen Huu Duc directed Tran Van Dinh to unify the construction of dossiers requesting land allocation and land use right certificates for 28 plots of land to 28 households that were not eligible. The amount of money from the sale of these 28 plots of land was recorded in 2 receipts (1 receipt for the land sale, 1 receipt for the "homeland construction" money). The total amount of money from the sale of 28 plots of land that the People's Committee of Thanh An commune submitted to the Thanh Chuong district budget was 436,060,000 VND.

The defendants in court.

Then, the Thanh Chuong District People's Committee allocated 175,000,000 VND (40%) to the budget. The amount collected for "homeland construction" was 745,417,300 VND and was put into the Thanh An Commune People's Committee fund and spent on infrastructure investment (this amount should have been fully paid into the district budget, then the district would allocate 40% to the commune according to regulations). Thus, this act caused a loss of 447,250,380 VND to the superior budget. This amount was invested by the Thanh An Commune People's Committee to build infrastructure for the commune.

Similarly, from February 2004 to July 2006, Nguyen Van Luong, Nguyen Huu Duc, Nguyen Cong Duc, and Tran Van Dinh illegally allocated residential land to 26 households, 17,176 m2, without permission from competent authorities, to collect 224,605,000 VND from 24/26 households into the Thanh An Commune People's Committee fund. (This amount was invested in building infrastructure for the commune). According to the valuation record dated September 18, 2012 of the Property Valuation Council, the damage from the allocation of 17,176 m2 was 119,882,000 VND.

During the period from August 2006 to December 2008, Nguyen Van Luong, Nguyen Cong Duc, and Tran Van Dinh transferred land in a number of areas, collecting an additional VND 716 million into the commune People's Committee fund in violation of Article 37 of the 2003 Land Law from 23 households, which is 5,806 m2, without permission from competent authorities (this amount was used to invest in infrastructure construction in Thanh An commune), causing a loss of VND 90,525. In addition to the above acts, Nguyen Van Luong, Nguyen Huu Duc, and Tran Van Dinh also transferred and received forestry land in violation of legal regulations.

During the investigation, the investigation agency has fully demonstrated that, because before initiating criminal proceedings, the responsible agency had recovered and remedied the violations, the police investigation agency did not consider enforcing criminal responsibility and did not request the Procuracy to prosecute, but recommended strict administrative handling of the defendants and related subjects for this act, which is appropriate.

After 2 days of public interrogation, defendant Nguyen Van Luong said that the authorities applied 2 charges against him, "Abusing position and power while performing official duties" and "Abusing power while performing official duties" which were incorrect but also failed to prove the correct reasoning in the land allocation. Other defendants also evaded in analyzing their actions but also failed to adequately prove that their actions were in accordance with the law.

After deliberation, the Trial Council is expected to announce the sentences for the defendants on June 24.

Huy Hoang