Nghe An: Group of commune officials illegally sold 337 plots of land, causing damage of more than 14 billion VND

Nghe An: Prosecuted 4 commune officials and civil servants for selling land without authority

(Baonghean.vn) - 3 retired officials and civil servants of Nghia Dong commune (Tan Ky) and 1 civil servant who has been transferred to another job have just been prosecuted by the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency to investigate the crime of Abuse of power in the performance of official duties.

Regarding the case of Abuse of power in the performance of official duties in Nghia Dong commune (Tan Ky), the leader of the Economic Police Department of Nghe An Public Security (PC03) said that from May 2004 to May 2015, after the Commune Party Committee agreed in principle, the People's Committee of Nghia Dong commune illegally sold 337 plots of land with an area of ​​about 178,000m2.²for the people

Not only illegally selling residential land, Nghia Dong commune also sold hundreds of agricultural plots and perennial crop land to the people. Most of these plots have been used by the people to build houses.

“Initially, the investigation agency determined that the above unauthorized land sale caused a loss of more than 14 billion VND to the state and illegal profits of more than 22.5 billion VND. This amount was all spent by the commune on infrastructure construction, serving the New Rural Development program,” said the leader of PC03.

Headquarters of Nghia Dong commune (Tan Ky). Photo: PB

Unlike other cases of illegal land sales, in the case in Nghia Dong commune, through professional work, the Economic Police Department received a report of the crime and began to verify and clarify the case from June 2018. However, due to the complexity of the case due to the large number of plots of land sold, the long tenure, lax state management, and complex area, the investigation took a lot of time.

After 8 months of investigation, on the morning of February 21, the Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Province issued a decision to prosecute 4 men: Ngo Xuan Nghia (former Secretary of the Party Committee of Nghia Dong Commune, retired); Mr. Trinh Huu Minh (former Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Nghia Dong Commune, retired); Mr. Tran Van Tuyen, a cadastral official of Nghia Binh Commune and Mr. Nguyen Cong Dung, a former financial official of Nghia Dong Commune, retired to investigate the crime of Abuse of power in the performance of official duties.

The three defendants Minh, Tuyen, and Dung were temporarily detained. Defendant Nghia was released on bail due to health reasons and was prohibited from leaving his place of residence.

At the time of the violation, defendant Ngo Xuan Nghia was Chairman of the Commune People's Committee (2004-2015), defendant Trinh Huu Minh was Secretary of the Commune Party Committee (2005-2015), defendant Tran Van Tuyen was a land official (2004-2016) and defendant Nguyen Cong Dung was a financial official (2001-2018).

According to the leader of the Economic Police Department, in addition to the four defendants who have been prosecuted, the investigation agency is reviewing and clarifying the responsibilities of the officials involved in the illegal land sale during this period. At the same time, it is also clarifying whether the above defendants have committed acts of personal gain or not.