On October 10, 2022, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 3088/QD-UBND to establish an interdisciplinary inspection team and approve the inspection plan for investment projects in the province. The project to build an office building in Nghi Phu commune (Vinh city) invested by Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24 is one of 60 projects assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to be inspected by Interdisciplinary Inspection Team No. 2 chaired by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
However, up to now, according to a member of the inspection team, the team has not been able to evaluate the project implementation of the investor. The reason is that Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24 has given excuses for not working and not providing documents related to the project. He said: “We have sent work invitations several times, and also contacted the legal representative of Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24 by phone, but they gave the excuse of being on a business trip, did not come to the working address and did not provide related documents…”.
Looking at the report of the inspection team sent to the Provincial People's Committee, there is quite detailed information about the content of the interdisciplinary team members' discussion. Specifically, the report stated: "The inspection team invited the investor to work twice for inspection, but the investor was absent and did not provide legal documents related to the project, so the inspection team had no basis to inspect and evaluate the implementation of legal procedures related to the project by the investor. The inspection team agreed to record the current status of the land and review some information related to the project, specifically as follows:
On the land leased by Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24 in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city: In front of the land (adjacent to Xieng Khoang street) is being leased to An Viet Company for automobile service business and to individual households; there is a row of 2-storey houses that are now degraded; behind the land is vacant land, used for the purpose of storing vehicles, equipment, and machinery.
The land is located in the Vinh airport planning according to Decision No. 769/QD-BGTVT dated May 4, 2019 of the Ministry of Transport".
At the same time, the inspection team reported to the Provincial People's Committee that Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24 is owing taxes in the amount of VND 24,790,984,059 (of which land rent and PNN land use tax are VND 4,353,874,300) even though the Tax authority has taken measures to enforce tax debt collection but the investor has not paid. To thereby recommend: “During the inspection process, the investor did not cooperate, arrange work and provide records and documents related to the project to the inspection team, so there is no basis to evaluate the conclusion for the investor; on the other hand, the investor currently owes a large amount of tax to the State budget (VND 24,790,984,059). Therefore, in order to have a basis to comprehensively evaluate the investor's compliance with the law for the above project; The inspection team proposed that the Provincial People's Committee establish an interdisciplinary inspection team chaired by the Provincial Inspectorate to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the investor in compliance with the law related to the above project”.
On December 29, 2022, Nghe An Newspaper published an article "Nghe An: 220 businesses owe over 827 billion VND in taxes”. In this article, there is information about the tax debt of Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24. Specifically, on December 22, 2022, Nghe An Tax Department issued Notice No. 3296/TB-CT publicly announcing the list of taxpayers owing tax and other revenues to the State budget for “Violating the provisions of Point a, Clause 1, Article 100, Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019/QH14 and Point g, Clause 1, Article 29, Decree 126/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 of the Government. The list attached to Notice No. 3296/TB-CT shows that Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company 24 ranked 5th in the list of enterprises with large tax debts of VND 24,820,277,898. At present, according to Nghe An Tax Department, the tax debt of Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24 is 24,677,630,186 VND.
To get more information about Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24 as well as the implementation of the Project to build an office building in Nghi Phu commune, following the instructions of the interdisciplinary inspection team, on July 17, we also went to the address Km0+700 Xieng Khouang - Nghe An road (Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city). Here, it was surprising that on a very large area of land, about 1ha, identified for the Project to build an office building, there was only one old facility, which had been used for 30 - 40 years. Including a 2-storey house and many degraded factories, besides, the land area along Xieng Khouang - Nghe An road had a few kiosks selling light trucks, a shop for car care and accessories, a shop selling stone cladding, tombs, etc.; the area behind the land was a yard for gathering and repairing heavy-duty vehicles.
Stopping by a two-story building with a sign for Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24, the offices were closed and quiet. The only person we met there, as he said, was asked by the company to look after it. Explaining the reason for the “visit”, he answered without hesitation: The company is considered bankrupt, with nothing left. Then he confided: “I was originally a member of the company from 1982-1983, when it was still famous nationwide under the name Thuy Loi 24. But later on, the company went downhill seriously, with debts piling up, debts like a king. The current director of the company is from Nam Dan, but he got married and lives in Hanoi and rarely comes back. Previously, the company also did some irrigation projects in the South but could not get the money, in general, there was nothing left…”.
Asked about the office building project and the company's revenue from the leased land areas. Regarding the project, he said that there was no information; as for the land lease, there were a few units using the premises, and occasionally the company's leaders "asked" the tenants to pay. But according to him, since the Covid-19 pandemic, the tenants are also facing difficulties, some of whom are delaying payment. He said: "Right at the location adjacent to the road, there are people advertising to sublease the premises. After renting, they invested a lot of money in factories and stores but business is not going well. In general, it is very difficult...".
To get information about the project to build an office building of Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24, on July 18, we contacted the Nghi Phu commune government. However, a commune leader who had been with the interdisciplinary inspection team to inspect the site at Km0+700 Xieng Khouang Road - Nghe An replied: "The site inspection was conducted by the inspection team in 2022. Also participating, Nghi Phu commune recorded that there were a number of houses on the land but they were degraded. As for the project to build an office building of Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company No. 24, we have only heard about it now...".
