Laxity in reviewing applications for benefits in Thanh Son commune

Police and Military agencies join forces

Regarding the caseControversy over policy payments in Thanh Son commune(Thanh Chuong district), on December 9, Mr. Lo Huy Hung - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said that immediately after Nghe An Newspaper published an article, Thanh Chuong District Police had started an investigation. "Over the past week, the police force has been calling each person who has benefited from the policy to come in and take statements. In addition, the police agency has also worked with a number of related people mentioned in the article," Mr. Hung said.

According to the reporter's investigation, after Nghe An Newspaper reported, in recent days, Mr. Lu Hong Phuong - Chairman of the Commune's Association of Former Youth Volunteers - who was accused of illegally collecting money from people - has also been rushing to each house to return the money.

Not only the police agency got involved, Mr. Trinh Van Nha - Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee said that after Nghe An Newspaper reported, the district leaders also assigned the District Military Command to verify the incident. After verifying, the District Military Command determined that Mr. Lu Hong Phuong's collection of 20,000 VND for each set of documents was against regulations. The confirmation of information about the relatives of the subjects in the commune was not strict; the authorization confirmation had content that was not in accordance with regulations. However, regarding the issue of making documents when receiving benefits, it must be shared with Mr. Phuong, this content has not yet been directly reported by any case that Mr. Phuong collected money from them.

Specifically, regarding the content of collecting 20,000 VND per set of documents, after verification, the District Military Command requested the Thanh Son Commune Policy Council to direct relevant collectives and individuals to promptly remedy the situation by checking, reviewing, and returning money to the people, at the same time apologizing and having a record of the payment reported to the District Military Command.

Regarding the content, the people were instructed by Mr. Phuong to make the documents, and after receiving the benefits, they had to share the money with Mr. Phuong, the Thanh Chuong District Military Command said that after verification, Mr. Phuong still denied this. Mr. Phuong said that he was assigned to be the Head of the Working Group of the Commune Policy Council, so he was responsible for guiding the subjects to make the documents according to Decision No. 49, and for making the documents, he only helped with 7 sets and did not receive money from the people.

"Mr. Phuong pledges not to receive any money from anyone. If there is anything wrong, Mr. Phuong will take full responsibility. Regarding this content, the District Military Command requests the Commune People's Committee to direct the Policy Council to directly verify each case that has been benefited to grasp the situation, and at the same time request Mr. Phuong to make a specific commitment," the verification report of the Thanh Chuong District Military Command stated.

Regarding the 3 cases in which Ms. Phan Thi Thiem - Mr. Phuong's daughter-in-law and also the wife of the Chairman of Thanh Son Commune People's Committee in the period of 2017-2023, received the money, according to the report of the Thanh Chuong District Military Command, after verification, the Commune Policy Council said that these cases all have relatives residing in Thanh Son Commune and these relatives are the ones who made the documents.

Specifically, Ms. Thiem is the adopted child of Mr. Lo Van Quang (deceased, residing in Tam Thai commune, Tuong Duong district). The adoption of father and son was based on local custom and was not confirmed by the government, and Ms. Thiem also raised Mr. Quang from 2001 to 2003; Mr. Quang had living children, but when he applied for the wartime civilian worker regime, Mr. Quang's biological children did not do it but authorized Ms. Thiem to do it, and the authorization was only verbal over the phone. As for the case of Ms. Kha Thi Thao (deceased), the person who prepared the dossier was Ms. Kha Thi Phi La (Ms. Thao was Ms. La's stepmother), Ms. Thiem admitted that she received the money on her behalf and immediately handed it over. As for the case of Ms. Ngan Thi Tim, the Commune Policy Council confirmed that the recipient of the regime was Ms. Tim's biological child.

Previously, speaking with Nghe An Newspaper, bAh Thiem admittedShe was the one who received the money in these three cases, including the case of Ms. Ngan Thi Tim, because Ms. Tim's daughter worked far away, she asked Ms. Thiem to receive it on her behalf.

Regarding this content, the Thanh Chuong District Military Command said that the unit has requested the Commune Policy Council to directly work with the subjects to verify whether it is true that Ms. Thiem has already handed over the money, the time of the handover, and there is a verification report.

"In the coming time, the District Military Command will continue to verify the remaining details," the unit's report stated.

Many shady signs

Although Mr. Lu Hong Phuong wrote a commitment to the verification team of the Thanh Chuong District Military Command that he "would not receive any money from the people during the process of guiding them to complete the documents", however, according to the reporter's investigation, immediately after Nghe An Newspaper reported, Mr. Phuong rushed to each house to return the money he had received.

Specifically, Mr. Lo Ngoc Chau (65 years old, residing in Cha Coong village, Thanh Son commune) said that he was the beneficiary of 4 sets of documents of relatives participating in the frontline labor force guided by Mr. Phuong. Including the documents of Mr. Chau himself, his biological mother, his mother-in-law and his wife's adoptive father. The total amount of money received from the policy is nearly 10 million VND.

Mr. Chau said that his wife was the one who received the money for these 4 files, several years ago so he couldn't remember the details. However, after Nghe An Newspaper reported it, a few days ago, Mr. Phuong returned 2 million VND. "For each file, he gave Mr. Phuong 500,000 VND, now he's coming to return it," Mr. Chau admitted.

Similarly, Ms. Quang Thi Bich (Thanh Duong village, Thanh Son commune) said that a few years ago, Mr. Phuong came to her house to inform her of a policy for people who had participated in the frontline labor force. Mr. Phuong then guided her to complete two sets of documents for her husband's parents who had passed away long ago. "After that, I received more than 5 million VND. After receiving the money, when I left the place to receive the money, I saw Mr. Phuong and his wife standing there. I gave Mr. Phuong's wife 500,000 VND. That amount of money was considered a gratitude to Mr. Phuong," Ms. Bich said.

In addition, after Nghe An Newspaper reported, there were also signs of ambiguity when on December 5, Mr. Lu Hong Phuong proactively brought 22.6 million VND to hand over to the People's Committee of Thanh Son Commune. Mr. Phuong said that this was the policy money of 8 files "with duplicate names".

The Commune People's Committee then made a record to temporarily hold the money, however, the record did not clearly state the reason, but only briefly stated "through reviewing the payment of benefits according to Decision No. 49 of the Prime Minister for those participating in the frontline labor force, the Commune Policy Council discovered that 8 men and women had created records with the same name (twice) to enjoy the policy".

According to the reporter's investigation, most of these 8 files were paid by the District Military Command from 2018 to 2019. However, the amount of money from these files was received by who and in whose pocket since then has not been clarified by the Commune People's Committee. This behavior also shows many irregularities in the review of files as well as the receipt of policy money, and if Nghe An Newspaper did not report it, would this money have been handed over by Mr. Phuong to the Commune People's Committee?