Police investigate contractor accused of taking advantage of being hired to renovate soccer field and then selling thousands of truckloads of dirt

On September 9, Mr. Quan Vi Giang - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quy Hop Commune (Nghe An Province) said that the Commune Police have begun investigating signs of law violations in the renovation of the soccer field and upgrading of the intra-field road in Huong Chau hamlet. This is a case thatNghe An Newspaper, Radio and Television just published an article reflecting this.

Accordingly, the police agency invited Mr. Dang Quoc Huy - former hamlet chief of Huong Chau hamlet and the contractor for the renovation of the football field, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, to work. In addition, the police agency also worked and collected information from households that bought land sold by this contractor.

After Nghe An Newspaper and Radio and Television reported the news, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh said in an interview with reporters that he did not exploit illegally but followed the contract signed with Huong Chau hamlet. "All households that bought land registered through the hamlet, I did not sell it on my own," Mr. Thanh explained.

However, there is no provision in this contract allowing Mr. Thanh to exploit the land for sale during the construction process. According to regulations, the hamlet executive committee also does not have the authority to grant permission to exploit the land.

Not to mention, the contract signed between Huong Chau hamlet and Mr. Thanh has many unclear signs. The contract was signed on November 20, 2024, but in fact, this project has been under construction since November 12, 2024. In the contract, the hamlet representative is Ms. Che Thi Lan - Secretary of the Party Cell of Huong Chau hamlet, however, when talking to reporters, Ms. Lan said that she did not participate in the process of signing the contract.

"It wasn't until 2025, when the new hamlet committee accepted the project, that the hamlet chief asked for the contract, but the old hamlet chief and Mr. Thanh both said they didn't have it. A while later, they presented this contract," said Ms. Lan.

Because the soccer field of Huong Chau hamlet is located at the foot of the hill, it has a steep slope, making it inconvenient to use, while many of the hamlet's internal roads are narrow, so in early November 2024, more than 100 households in the hamlet agreed to each contribute 800,000 VND to hire a contractor to renovate the soccer field, lower the field surface, and then use the excess soil to upgrade the internal roads. However, during the construction process, the contractor, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, scooped up many trucks of soil and sold them.

According to the residents of Huong Chau hamlet, the hamlet initially agreed to lower the soccer field by about 60cm, however, the contractor later lowered many locations by nearly 2m. Not only did the contractor take soil from the soccer field, he also went to the cemetery area to scoop up hundreds of truckloads of soil to sell.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hai - Head of Huong Chau Hamlet said that when he took over the position of hamlet head in January 2025, this project had been completed. He was assigned by the old hamlet head to collect a total of 80 million VND from the people to pay the contractor as previously agreed. However, despite holding a series of meetings, the people did not agree to pay because they thought that the contractor had scooped up too much soil to sell during the construction process.

"Regarding the quality of the project, after the renovation, due to the deep excavation, the soccer field could not be used and was often flooded. Regarding the large amount of land that Mr. Thanh sold, the new committee of the hamlet checked and 18 households confirmed that they had bought more than 2,200 truckloads of land sold by this contractor to raise their gardens and fill ponds. Each truckload was sold for 220,000 VND," said Mr. Hai.

Regarding the reason for not agreeing to pay the amount of 800,000 VND, Mr. Truong Duc Thanh - a resident of Huong Chau hamlet said that in the hamlet's plan, the contractor was only assigned to lower the football field by 60cm, but the contractor dug too deep to take the soil to sell. Because the contractor had already made hundreds of millions of VND from selling the land, the residents did not agree to pay the labor fee as previously agreed.

Due to the lack of agreement between the people and Mr. Thanh, the matter dragged on. In early August, Mr. Thanh filed a complaint against Huong Chau hamlet for embezzling wages.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh said that he initially agreed with the hamlet that after one month of completing the project, the hamlet would pay him 80 million VND for labor, but until now he has not paid, so he has complained. As for the fact that he took advantage of the football field renovation to scoop up soil to sell to the people, Mr. Thanh said that this was not a sale, but that the people only paid to support the fuel cost. Mr. Thanh said that he only charged 150,000 VND for each truckload of soil as support. "During the process, there was a little extra soil so I gave it to the people, it was not significant."