Exploiting corrections to gain illicit profits.
(Baonghean) - Taking advantage of the people's lack of understanding, the police of Long Son commune (Anh Son district) have committed acts considered "reckless and erratic." They are law enforcement officers, but they intentionally violated legal regulations to gain illicit profits...
In late October 2014, Nghe An Newspaper received a complaint from residents of Hamlet 12, Long Son Commune (Anh Son District), stating that residents with errors in their household registration books had to pay high fines to correct them. Visiting Hamlet 12, we were able to understand the frustration of the farmers in this impoverished rural area. Mr. NVL, one of the affected individuals, said: "My wife's birth year is 1964, but the household registration book says 1962. My daughter's birth year is 1989, but the household registration book says 1990. The cause of the error may be due to my inaccurate memory at the time the household registration was made, leading to incorrect information. Now I want to correct it to match other documents. However, to correct the error, I have to pay a fine of 500,000 VND to the commune police."
In the case of Mr. NVH, all his documents, from his identity card, war medals, and insurance card, state his birth year as 1949, but his household registration book says 1947. Therefore, when he went to the commune police station to request a correction, he was fined 500,000 dong. Mr. H said: “They said that the more mistakes, the more the fine; the less mistakes, the less the fine. Then they asked me, ‘How much do you have in your pocket?’ I checked and only had 300,000 dong left. So I ended up owing 200,000 dong and haven’t been able to pay it back yet.” In the case of Mr. NTB, all his documents have the middle name “Thanh,” but his household registration book says “Van.” To apply for a bank loan, he went to the commune to request a correction, but also had to pay a fine of 1 million dong. Mr. B expressed his frustration: "I didn't pay much attention to it because I didn't go through any procedures, and I didn't know why there was such a mistake. But when I went to the commune office and heard the police say that this offense should have resulted in a 3 million VND fine, but they only fined 1 million VND, partly because I didn't have the money, and partly because I was so upset, I didn't pay and left. But later I needed my household registration to resolve some issues, so I had to grit my teeth and pay the money..."
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| Illustration: Hong Toai |
The three cases mentioned above are representative of many households we have contacted. After paying the fines, Mr. NTB had his household registration book corrected and reissued on January 4, 2012; Mr. NVL had his household registration book corrected and reissued on January 10, 2014; and Mr. NVH had his book corrected on June 23, 2014. None of the households that paid the fines received a receipt.
According to Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai - Head of Trong Hai & Associates Law Office: Clause 2, Article 29 of the 2006 Residence Law stipulates the adjustment of changes in the household registration book. Accordingly: “In case of changes to the surname, given name, middle name, date of birth, or other changes to the civil status of a person named in the household registration book, the head of the household or the person with the change or an authorized person must carry out the adjustment procedure. The person carrying out the procedure must present the household registration book, birth certificate or the decision allowing the change from the competent authority on civil registration; and submit the household and population change notification form.” Thus, the law allows citizens the right to change information regarding their surname, given name, middle name, date of birth, month of birth, and year of birth in their household registration book. When applying for this change, citizens must present one of the documents specified above. The fee is collected according to the regulations of the Provincial People's Council. Mr. Nguyen Thua Giap, Head of the Long Son Commune Police, stated that the commune police's decision to impose penalties under Point b, Clause 2, Article 8 of Decree 167/2013 is incorrect. He argued that errors in household registration books are due to mistakes made by citizens, not intentional provision of false information. Therefore, this regulation should not be applied to impose penalties. |
Based on feedback from residents and verification at the commune police station, we received the response, "We need to check again." However, the reasoning of Mr. Nguyen Thua Giap, Head of the Long Son Commune Police, somewhat sheds light on the matter as reported. Mr. Giap stated that errors "purely" due to confusing lunar and solar dates would incur a fee of 8,000 VND per correction. However, errors in names, dates of birth, etc., considered "not purely" errors due to deliberate intent, incorrect recording, or inaccurate information provided by residents, would be subject to a fine of 1 to 2 million VND as stipulated in Point b, Clause 2, Article 8 of Decree 167/2013. However, at the local level, the fines are only 1 million VND or less.” When we mentioned seeing the penalty notice and receipt for cases fined for errors in the household registration book, Mr. Giáp asserted: “All have receipts and invoices. After the commune police sign the penalty decision, the people go to the finance department to pay the money; the police do not collect it.”
However, upon checking with the finance department, receipts for the three specific cases mentioned above were missing. According to the commune's finance officer, when we requested to see the receipts for the fines collected from 2012 to the present, "Previously, the person... made them and kept them elsewhere." But even in the receipt book provided by this finance officer, there are receipts from the beginning of April 2014 to August 2014, and the name of Mr. NVH, who was "fined" for correcting his birth year from 1947 to 1949 on June 23, 2014 (the date of the correction - PV), is not present. Returning to Mr. Giap's question about some cases of people giving money to the commune police without receipts to correct errors in household registration books, Mr. Giap calmly stated, "That's their gratuity..."
According to the Long Son Commune Police, except for cases of confusion between lunar and solar dates, all other errors in household registration books that need correction require a fine. In a discussion with us on this issue, Lieutenant Colonel Phung Xuan Hung, Deputy Head of the Registration and Residence Management Team, Department of Administrative and Social Order Management, Provincial Police, stated: These errors are due to unintentional mistakes by the people; therefore, correcting them is the responsibility of the police, and people only have to pay the fee for adjusting the changes in their household registration books as stipulated.
Quang An
