Today, trial of the Ministry of Construction inspector 'extortion'

The defendants include: Nguyen Thi Kim Anh (former Deputy Head of the Anti-Corruption Department of the Ministry of Construction Inspectorate); Nguyen Thi Kim Lien (former officer of Construction Inspectorate Department 3); Dang Hai Anh (former specialist of Construction Inspectorate Department 2) and Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh (member of the Inspection Team).

These people were brought to trial for "Abuse of position and power to appropriate property", stipulated in Article 355 of the Penal Code.

Head of the Construction Ministry's inspection delegation embezzled 1,315 billion VND in Vinh Phuc.

According to the indictment, in March 2019, defendant Kim Anh was assigned as Head of the inspection team in Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province.

Ms. Kim Anh clearly knows that the subject of inspection according to the decision of the Minister of Construction is the People's Committee of Vinh Tuong district, while the People's Committees of communes and towns are not subject to inspection and are not allowed to inspect construction projects invested by the People's Committees at the commune level.

In the process of performing assigned tasks, defendant Kim Anh, in her position as Head of the Inspection Team, with the purpose of making profits, was the mastermind who directed other defendants who were members of the team.inspectThe inspectors assigned to inspect the content of construction investment management work under the People's Committee of Vinh Tuong district committed many acts beyond their assigned authority and duties.

The accusation is that the defendants organized widespread inspections of 29/29 People's Committees of communes and towns, not targeting the right subjects, and collected and received documents without making a record. The minutes of the meeting stated that they were managed according to confidential documents, but after the units paid the money as requested, the minutes were torn up.

The head of the inspection team and members did not have the authority to request money recovery but recorded it in the minutes as a request to recover money.

The above actions of Kim Anh and other defendants are contrary to the provisions of the Law on Inspection and other regulations. The defendants imposed and arbitrarily set the amount of money that the units must pay...

The above mentioned tricks and actions of the defendants have caused indignation among many individuals and organizations in the communes and towns of Vinh Tuong district, who have filed complaints with the Investigation Police Department and Vinh Phuc Provincial Police.

At 3:10 p.m. on June 12, 2019, at the headquarters of the People's Committee of Vinh Tuong district, the Investigation Police caught the defendants red-handed receiving money from many inspected subjects.

During the investigation, the Investigation Police Agency proved that from the end of May 2019 to June 12, 2019, defendant Kim Anh and his accomplices appropriated from the representatives of 54 enterprises related to basic construction investment invested by the People's Committees of communes and towns, a total amount of more than 1.3 billion VND.

The defendants have appropriated more than 838 million VND from many other individuals, units and organizations but the victims have not been identified. The total amount of money the defendants appropriated and benefited from is more than 2.1 billion VND.