Many people were scammed because they spent money buying land in 'ghost projects'

In relation to the case, defendants Pham Manh Cuong (born 1976, in Thanh Tri), Nguyen Van Phuong (born 1990, in Hai Ba Trung) and Nguyen Thanh Hai (born 1968, in Son Tay) were also prosecuted for the same crime.

According to the accusation, around April 2019, Bach Thi Thu Huong and Pham Manh Cuong discussed and agreed with Nguyen Thanh Hai about Ms. Huong depositing 1 billion VND for Hai to buy 10,000 m² Agricultural land of Nguyen Thanh Hai and Ngo Thi Chanh.

The land lot belongs to plot number 148-2a, map sheet number 9, with an area of ​​20,486.8 m2.²(of which 12,333.9 m²land for perennial crops and 8,152 m2 of land for aquaculture) in Dong Trang village, Co Dong commune, Son Tay, Hanoi.

Hai committed to dividing the plots, building infrastructure for the plots and completing procedures to convert the land use purpose from agricultural land to rural residential land within 6 months from the date of signing the deposit contract.

In early May 2019, Ms. Huong signed a contract to deposit 1 billion VND for Hai and his wife to buy 10,000 m²the above agricultural land.

On May 23, 2019, Hai signed a contract authorizing Ms. Huong to have the right to "transact, broker with customers and carry out procedures to change the land use purpose to residential land, and build infrastructure on the land plot".

After signing the deposit contract, Ms. Huong hired someone to draw a diagram of the land plot division according to Hai's sketch into 101 plots of land, with a total area of ​​more than 11,000 m2.², named Golden Lake Residential Area.

On May 9, 2019, Ms. Huong agreed to sign a contract for Nguyen Van Phuong's Grand Realty Company to exclusively advertise and sell plots of land according to the subdivision map, with a commission fee of 15% of the value of the plots sold according to the price list of Golden Gate Company.

If the price is higher than the price of Golden Gate Company, Phuong will receive an additional 60% of the difference.

Phuong has linked up with brokerage companies to advertise the sale of land in the Golden Lake project.

The defendant provided information and documents about the project to employees of real estate brokerage companies to post information, images of land plots, and write advertisements about the Golden Lake Residential Area project on the Internet, social networks Zalo, and Facebook to find customers to buy land.

Phuong has linked up with brokerage companies to advertise the sale of land in the Golden Lake project.

Phuong also used the name of Grand Land Company, of which he was Chairman of the Board of Directors, to send invitations and organize seminars at the company's headquarters for brokers to invite guests to attend.

At the workshop, Phuong introduced information about the planning and development potential of Hoa Lac area, information about Golden Lake Residential Area Project and investment potential to customers.

Grand Land Company also rents cars for companies and brokerage company employees to take customers to visit the project site, which is the land of Hai and his wife.

"Ghost Project"

For his part, after signing the authorization contract, Hai knew that Ms. Huong did not have enough 55 billion VND to pay Hai and according to the agreements in the deposit contract, Ms. Huong was not qualified to sign a land sale contract with customers. Therefore, on May 23, 2019, Hai signed an authorization contract with the following content: "Hai and his wife authorize Huong to conduct brokerage transactions, find customers; carry out procedures to convert land use purposes to residential land according to regulations; after carrying out the conversion procedures, they have the right to build works on the land,...".

From May 17 to July 1, 2019, 70 customers trusted the advertising information of Golden Gate Company and real estate brokerage companies approved by competent State agencies, so they signed contracts with Ms. Huong to buy 78 plots of land out of a total of 101 plots of land.

The total amount of money Ms. Huong collected from 70 customers who ordered 78 plots of land was more than 60 billion VND.

When they learned that Golden Lake Residential Area was just a “ghost project”, customers demanded their money back. The accusation was that Ms. Huong had paid 5 customers more than 4 billion VND; transferred 8 billion VND to Hai, and nearly 11 billion VND to Phuong.

Verification results show that land plot 148-2a, owned by the couple Nguyen Thanh Hai and Ngo Thi Chanh, is used for perennial crop and aquaculture purposes, with no residential land use planning; There is also no Golden Lake Residential Area project approved or granted a construction permit on the above land plot.