Thanh Chuong District Party Committee reported to the Provincial Party Committee's Internal Affairs Committee about the violations in Thanh Mai commune.

Full text of the results of handling the violation case in Thanh Mai communeThanh Chuong District Party Committee, in Report No. 154-BC/HU dated March 2, 2022 as follows:

“On February 23, 2022, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee received Official Dispatch No. 986-CV/BNCTU.P2 dated February 17, 2022 ofProvincial Party Committee's Internal Affairs CommitteeNghe An Newspaper on February 16, 2022 published an article "People accuse tea factory owner of illegally converting thousands of square meters of agricultural land, commune authorities ignore". The Standing Committee of the District Party Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 664-CV/HU requesting the Chairman of the District People's Committee to direct, inspect, and handle the case according to authority. The specific handling results are as follows:

Report No. 154-BC/HU dated March 2, 2022 of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee. Photo: PVPL Group

Before Nghe An Newspaper published an article (February 16, 2022) reflecting the above content, on January 24, 2022, the District People's Committee received information reflecting that the Traditional Tea Factory, Truong Son hamlet, Thanh Mai commune was committing land violations.

Immediately after receiving the feedback, the District People's Committee assigned specialized departments to work directly with Thanh Mai Commune People's Committee and inspect the scene.

The results of the inspection showed that the information reflected by the people was correct, specifically: At the agricultural production land located adjacent to the Traditional Tea Processing Factory (owned by Mr. Le Van Thong), soil was filled, the ground was leveled and a tie foundation was built on agricultural land.

The agricultural land area was illegally converted for other purposes by the owner of the Traditional Tea Processing Factory. Photo: PVPL Group

The District People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 174/UBND-TNMT dated January 25, 2022 criticizing the Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Mai Commune, and at the same time assigned the People's Committee of Thanh Mai Commune to take measures to prevent and promptly handle the above administrative violation in accordance with the provisions of law. Absolutely do not let the violator continue to commit the violation and complete the project to put it into use.

Thanh Mai Commune People's Committee has reported the settlement results to the District People's Committee in Report No. 36/BC-UBND dated February 15, 2022. However, after reviewing the content of the report of Thanh Mai Commune People's Committee, it was found that the Commune People's Committee has not inspected, verified and clarified the nature of the violation, and has not prepared a record to handle administrative violations according to regulations.

The foundation system stretches hundreds of meters of agricultural land illegally converted by the owner of the Traditional Tea Processing Factory. Photo: PVPL Group

Therefore, the District People's Committee has directed the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to directly work with the People's Committee of Thanh Mai commune and issued Official Dispatch No. 264/UBND-TNMT dated February 17, 2022 assigning the People's Committee of Thanh Mai commune to continue to inspect, verify and clarify the violation and proceed to prepare a record to promptly, thoroughly and in accordance with regulations for the above violation.

Currently, the District People's Committee is continuing to assign the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to directly inspect, monitor, urge and guide the Thanh Mai Commune People's Committee in the process of preparing records to handle administrative violations in the above case to ensure that the violations are handled in accordance with the provisions of law. Currently, the Thanh Mai Commune People's Committee is implementing the direction of the District People's Committee.

The Standing Committee of the District Party Committee would like to report the progress of the results of handling the content of the Newspaper with the above content so that the Provincial Party Committee's Internal Affairs Committee and the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee can know.

It is known that on February 28, 2022, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee also issued Report No. 329/BC-UBND on reporting the results of handling administrative violations of land in Thanh Mai commune to the Provincial Party Committee's Internal Affairs Committee.

Report No. 329/BC-UBND of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee sent to the Provincial Party Committee's Internal Affairs Committee. Photo: PVPL Group

Regarding the violations in Thanh Mai commune, according to Lawyer Trong Hai - Head of Trong Hai Law Office and associates, the act of illegally converting land use purposes and arbitrarily constructing on agricultural land will be subject to administrative sanctions according to Clause 3, Article 9, Decree No. 91/2019/ND-CP; the act of arbitrarily leveling rice-growing land will be subject to administrative sanctions for land destruction according to the provisions of Article 15 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP.

In addition to being administratively sanctioned, those who illegally level land will also be subject to remedial measures requiring the restoration of the land to its original state before the violation. If they do not comply with the remedial measures, the State may reclaim the land according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 1, Article 64 of the 2013 Land Law. In addition to administrative sanctions, those who destroy land may also be criminally prosecuted according to Article 228 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017:

Upon investigation, it was discovered that the Traditional Tea Processing Factory had been operating illegally on agricultural land for many years. Photo: PVPL Group

According to Lawyer Trong Hai, for officials directly involved in the locality where illegal land use conversion occurs, arbitrarily building on agricultural land, arbitrarily leveling rice fields, if the competent authority through inspection and examination determines that there is a lack of responsibility causing serious consequences, disciplinary action will be considered in the form of reprimand, warning, dismissal, or removal.

In cases where related officials show signs of crime, they may also be prosecuted for the crime of "Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences" or the crime of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties" according to the provisions of the Penal Code 2015, amended in 2017.