Land officials show signs of crime, commune only recommends administrative handling

Profiting on people's property

Mr. Ho Tien Nam and his wife Nguyen Thi Hong Suong (son and daughter-in-law of Mr. Ho Tien Ngu and Mrs. Ho Thi Lan), residing in Dong Hong hamlet, Quynh Chau commune (Quynh Luu) sent a petition to Nghe An Newspaper accusing Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang - a land officer of Quynh Chau commune of abusing her position and authority to appropriate 1,050 square meters of land from Mr. Ngu and Mrs. Lan's family, then dividing it with district officials.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Suong was authorized by Ms. Ho Thi Lan to resolve related issues, wishing to have 1,050 square meters of land returned to her family. Photo: PB

The petition stated that in 2011, Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang came to the family and discussed that there was a new project to build a road through the house and the State would take the family's land. Therefore, the family should complete the land registration procedures to have future benefits, otherwise the land would be lost. After that, Ms. Giang told the family that in order to get the registration, they had to give Ms. Giang 300 million VND or give Ms. Giang 600 square meters of land (30 meters wide, 20 meters long).

“At that time, my parents were old and weak, the family had no cash, so we had to accept exchanging 600 square meters of land for the title instead of giving 300 million VND,” said Ms. Suong, the person authorized by Ms. Lan.

However, in reality, the land area that Ms. Giang “cut” from Mr. Ngu and Ms. Lan’s family was 1,050 m2. Of which, 350 m2 of land belonged to Ms. Giang but was registered under the name of Ho Thi Thanh Binh (cultural officer of Quynh Chau commune). The remaining 700 m2 is under the name of Mr. Ho Van Huong (village 10b, Quynh Chau commune).

The 700m2 plot of land is under the name of Mr. Ho Van Huong, and he is currently using it. Photo: PB

Quynh Chau Commune said that Mr. Ngu and Ms. Lan transferred this 700 m2 to the family of Mr. Vo Van Cong (residing in Quynh Xuan Ward, Hoang Mai Town). Then, Mr. Cong sold it again to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang (in 2012, he was the Director of the Office of Land Use Registration of Quynh Luu District, currently the Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu District).

In 2017, Mr. Thang sold the land to Ms. Giang for 380 million VND, then Ms. Giang sold the land to Mr. Ho Van Huong for 490 million VND. However, Ms. Giang said that it was Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang who asked her to make the transfer documents from Mr. Ngu and Ms. Lan to Mr. Vo Van Cong.

However, Ms. Lan asserted that she did not know who Mr. Vo Van Cong was and had never signed the land transfer procedure for Mr. Cong. Furthermore, Mr. Cong did not directly sign the transfer contract but Ms. Giang signed it on his behalf. Afterwards, Ms. Giang continued to prepare documents and continued to sign on Mr. Cong's behalf to transfer the above land plot to Mr. Huong.

Regarding the contract to transfer 350m2 of land between Mr. Ngu's family and Ms. Lan to Ms. Le Thi Thanh Binh, Ms. Lan also affirmed that she did not sell the land to Ms. Binh. Furthermore, in this transfer contract, Ms. Binh did not sign it, but Ms. Giang signed it instead.

The 350m2 plot of land is currently under the name of Ho Thi Thanh Binh but is actually owned by Le Thi Huong Giang. Photo: PB

Although Ms. Giang forged the signatures of Ms. Binh, Mr. Cong, and Ms. Lan in the transfer contracts, the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune still certified that these contracts were not in accordance with the regulations on certification.

After receiving the citizen's complaint, the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune established a verification team. The People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune concluded that Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang had abused her authority and used information related to public service activities in her field of responsibility to negotiate with Mr. Ngu and Ms. Lan's family on a number of issues related to the issuance, transfer of land use rights, and transfer of land use rights. Ms. Giang falsely declared the amount of expenses that the family had to pay to benefit from the difference and the amount of 30 million VND that Ms. Ho Thi Thanh Binh contributed.

Ms. Giang's behavior was determined to violate the Law on Civil Servants, which stipulates what civil servants are not allowed to do, which is "Taking advantage of, abusing duties, powers, using information related to public service for personal gain". On that basis, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune requested to organize a review of the responsibilities of Ms. Giang and the Justice - Civil Status officers.

Quynh Chau Commune People's Committee also confirmed that Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang had appropriated 9 million VND from Ms. Nguyen Thi Than's family (Hamlet 4B). Specifically, when Ms. Than came to the Quynh Chau Commune People's Committee office to complete the procedures for issuing and changing the land use right certificate and dividing the plot for her child, Giang asked Ms. Than to pay 24 million VND to complete the procedure. Giang then completed the procedure for 15 million VND, and "pocketed" the remaining 9 million VND.

The signs of crime are clear.

Disagreeing with some of the conclusions of the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Chau Commune, Mr. Ho Tien Nam continued to send a petition to the Provincial People's Committee and the People's Committee of Quynh Luu District. The People's Committee of Quynh Luu District established a working group to review the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Chau Commune in handling the complaint against Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang.

The working group believes that the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune concluded that the transfer of 350m2 of land from Ms. Lan's family to Ms. Giang was a civil agreement and that Ms. Giang did not appropriate 350m2 of land, which is incorrect.

In fact, Ms. Lan's family's agreement to transfer 350m2 of land to Ms. Giang was not voluntary, but due to pressure from Ms. Giang demanding a fee of 300 million VND to complete the procedures for transferring land use rights and changing land use purposes. Furthermore, Ms. Giang herself valued Ms. Lan's family's land at only 10 million VND/m2, which was lower than the market price at that time of 25 million VND/m2.

Le Thi Huong Giang provided false information about the road expansion project to deceive Mr. Ngu and Ms. Lan's family. Photo: PB

Mr. Hoang Van Bo - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district also agreed with the conclusion of the Working Group: Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang's behavior violated the State's regulations on land, authentication, and taking advantage of her position and power while performing her duties and public duties. Ms. Giang's purpose was to receive 30 million VND and enjoy benefits for an area of ​​350 square meters of land under the name of Ho Thi Thanh Binh; causing land damage to Ms. Ho Thi Lan's family.

According to the 2005 Anti-Corruption Law, Ms. Giang's behavior is "Taking advantage of position and power while performing official duties for personal gain". And according to the 2015 Penal Code, Ms. Giang's behavior has signs of the crime of "Taking advantage of position and power while performing official duties".

However, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune only concluded that Ms. Giang's behavior was "Taking advantage of and abusing her duties and powers, using information related to public service for personal gain", but did not transfer the case to the Investigation Agency or the District People's Procuracy for handling according to regulations, but only recommended that the District People's Committee handle administrative discipline, which is an incomplete implementation of the provisions of the 2018 Law on Denunciation.

Quynh Chau Commune has not yet clarified the responsibilities of the Commune Chairman and two Vice Chairmen related to the violations of Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang, a land officer. Photo: PB

The violations of Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang are clear, but the responsibilities of the individuals involved at the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune have not been clarified. In addition to the responsibilities of the Land and Justice - Civil Status officials, the responsibilities of the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee in charge of Economy, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee in charge of Culture - Society and the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune have not been determined.

Therefore, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district has assigned the responsibility to the Head of the Department of Internal Affairs to review and advise the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune to handle the responsibilities of the above individuals. At the same time, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Chau commune has been requested to transfer the case file to the Investigation Police Agency of Quynh Luu district police for review and settlement according to the provisions of law.

In addition to Mr. Ho Tien Nam’s family, 14 other households in Quynh Chau commune also reported that Ms. Le Thi Huong Giang had repeatedly “taken money” and “demanded land” when people went to do land-related procedures. The leader of Quynh Luu District Police said that the police agency had received the file sent by the Quynh Chau Commune People’s Committee and would thoroughly investigate the contents of the people’s accusations and reflections in accordance with the law.