Nghe An: Commune rents out cultural center to fund officials'... trips.

In November 2016 and September 2017, Nghia My commune (Thai Hoa town) signed two economic contracts with Hi-tex Co., Ltd. to rent the commune's multi-functional cultural center for 11 months to use as a vocational training center for workers. The total revenue from these contracts was 118 million VND. However, this money was not recorded in the commune's accounting books but instead in the commune's trade union records, following the policy of the Standing Committee of the Nghia My Commune Party Committee.

The leasing of office space to businesses is contrary to the regulations of the Law on Asset Management. Furthermore, the revenue collected from renting the office space was not deposited into the commune's budget; instead, fraudulent documents were created to withdraw money from the State Treasury.

The Nghia My commune cultural center was leased to a business for 11 months.

According to the reporter's investigation, out of the total 118 million VND that this company paid to Nghia My commune, 88 million VND was in cash, and 30 million VND was transferred to the State Treasury. To withdraw this 30 million VND, Nghia My commune created fictitious documents under the guise of "Land leveling the area behind the Nghia My Commune People's Committee" but in reality, no construction was carried out. The agency that provided the invoices was Linh Quan Construction Consulting Joint Stock Company.

Regarding the 118 million VND, Ms. Cao Thi Huong, then Chairwoman of the Nghia My Commune People's Committee, stated that the commune had spent 40.5 million VND on trips for commune and village officials to visit economic models; 30 million VND on trips for officials and union members to Cua Lo town; 10 million VND for the 2017-2021 term's union congress; and 4.5 million VND on purchasing invoices to create fraudulent documents for withdrawing money from the treasury. The remaining 33 million VND was still unused from the union's fund.

A section of ditch belonging to the pumping station project.

“At the time, I didn’t think it was wrong. Initially, the company said they would only rent for a few months, and the rent was small, so the commune decided to do it that way. We only wanted to use the money for staff to go on a trip and motivate them to work. And to go on a trip, you need cash, so we created fake documents to withdraw the money. I didn’t pocket a single penny,” Ms. Huong explained to a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper. She has now been retired for a month. “Now I accept the disciplinary action,” she added.

The misconduct of the Nghia My commune leaders was only discovered when the head of the commune's cooperative filed a complaint. Following an investigation, the Nghe An Provincial Inspectorate concluded that the Nghia My Commune Party Committee's failure to allocate 118 million VND to the budget was contrary to legal regulations. Furthermore, the Linh Quan Consulting and Construction Joint Stock Company (headquartered in Dong Hieu commune, Thai Hoa district) providing invoices that did not reflect reality to Nghia My commune violated tax laws. To date, the Thai Hoa Town People's Committee has issued a decision to recover 67.5 million VND that was improperly disbursed to the state budget.

Besides violations related to the illegal leasing of the commune office, during the time Ms. Huong served as Chairwoman of the People's Committee of Nghia My commune, there were many other questionable activities.

Specifically, in November 2013, the People's Committee of Thai Hoa town approved the technical report of the Go Dang - Dong May - Thinh My irrigation pumping station project in Nghia My commune. The investment scale of this project was 45 hectares. However, according to Mr. Dinh Bat Thao, an appraisal officer of the Economic Department of the People's Committee of Thai Hoa town, when preparing the economic and technical report, the consulting unit inflated the area to 45 hectares to secure funding, when in reality the irrigated area of ​​the project is only about 15-17 hectares. However, recently, the People's Committee of Thai Hoa town verified and measured the actual irrigated area upon completion, which is 9.928 hectares, and the actual capacity of the pumps is to irrigate 10-15 hectares. Thus, the preparation, appraisal, and approval of the economic and technical report regarding the project's scale of 45 hectares is unfounded, and the reported project scale is inaccurate.

The construction process of this project also has a drawback: the beginning of the canal is 0.44m lower than the end. After discovering this, the investor and the construction unit are having to rectify the situation by building brick walls to raise the height of the canal banks at the beginning of the main channel. To date, the project is still unfinished, has not been officially accepted (AB), and has not been finalized with completed capital. Therefore, citizens believe that the claim of inflating the irrigated area to increase the project value and withdraw budget funds is unfounded.

In explaining the matter, Ms. Cao Thi Huong stated that, lacking technical expertise in the electrical and construction sectors, the commune hired a consulting, design, supervision, and appraisal unit. Ms. Huong asserted that she did not misuse the funds for personal gain or falsify project parameters to profit from state money. Nevertheless, she acknowledged that the responsibility for these violations lies with the Nghia My Commune People's Committee, headed by its Chairwoman Cao Thi Huong, and other individuals and groups involved, including the Head of the Finance Department of Thai Hoa Town and the Chairman of the Thai Hoa Town People's Committee during that period.

In response to these violations, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has instructed Thai Hoa town to recover the remaining funds into the town's temporary holding account pending further action. Regarding the pumping station, the investor and contractor are required to rectify the existing shortcomings and organize acceptance testing based on the actual construction volume. A thorough review and serious disciplinary action will be taken against the individuals and groups responsible for the violations.

Furthermore, Thai Hoa town must also take disciplinary action against the Chairwoman of Nghia My Commune People's Committee, Cao Thi Huong, and other related individuals for the aforementioned violations. In addition, it is recommended that the competent authorities handle the survey and design consulting unit, as well as the supervision and construction unit of the Go Gang - Dong May - Thinh My pumping station project, in accordance with the law. The Nghe An Tax Department also needs to consider and take action against Linh Quan Consulting and Construction Joint Stock Company for providing invoices that do not reflect the actual situation to the Nghia My Commune People's Committee.