Nghe An: Commune chairman prosecuted for allowing village chief to sell land without authority

On July 16, a leader of Nghe An Provincial Police said that the Investigation Police Department of Hung Nguyen District Police had concluded the investigation of the case of illegal land sale that occurred in Hung Yen Nam Commune (Hung Nguyen).

In particular, Hung Nguyen District Police decided to initiate additional prosecution in the case of "Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences", and at the same time issued a decision to prosecute Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Yen Nam Commune for the crime of "Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences", stipulated in Clause 1, Article 360 ​​of the 2015 Penal Code. The amount of money that the State lost in this case is more than 455 million VND.

Currently, Hung Nguyen district has also suspended work and arranged a replacement for defendant Hieu.

Nghe An strictly handles the situation of illegal land sales. Illustration photo: PV

According to the investigation conclusion of Hung Nguyen District Police, in 2016, implementing Directive 08-CT/TU dated May 8, 2012 on mobilizing rural areas to "consolidate land plots" and encourage land accumulation to develop large-scale production in agriculture of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Hung Yen Nam Commune (Hung Nguyen) has completed the Steering Committee for land consolidation and plot exchange. In which, the member of the Committee in Hamlet 9 (now Hamlet 6) is Mr. Dinh Huu Hanh - Head of Hamlet 9. Mr. Hanh is the person who directly manages and directs the Committee as well as directly manages money and decides on revenue and expenditure.

During this time, the Subcommittee organized many meetings with the people, disseminated Directive 08 as well as the direction of Hung Yen Nam commune. After agreeing on the policy of converting 5% of the commune's land to contractors for funding, during the conversion process, the Subcommittee sold many areas of land without authority, causing damage to the State.

At the investigation agency, Mr. Hanh admitted that he had directly and directed the Subcommittee to sell land to a number of households, but said that the money was to pay for the Subcommittee's operating costs as well as to build drainage ditches and build fields. However, Mr. Hanh could not explain specifically how the money was collected and spent.

In March 2021, Hung Nguyen District Police initiated a case and prosecuted Mr. Dinh Huu Hanh for "Abuse of power while performing official duties" under Article 357 of the Penal Code. Expanding the investigation, the investigation agency then prosecuted the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee for "Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences".