Officials falsified documents to enjoy relatives' pension benefits

Mr. Lo Van Len, currently Deputy Chief of the Office of Coordination for New Rural Construction in Thanh Hoa province, received incorrect allowances and salaries for his relatives of more than 120 million VND.

Since June 2013, Mr. Ha Van Peu (born in 1936, residing in Ban Cong commune, Ba Thuoc district - Thanh Hoa) and his wife, Mrs. Ha Thi Kem (born in 1934, residing in the same location) have submitted a petition to the authorities requesting to receive death benefits according to regulations, because when their daughter passed away in 2011, her husband, Mr. Lo Van Len (at that time, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ba Thuoc district) received the entire death benefits, which according to them is against the regulations.

Conclusion of the case investigation of Thanh Hoa Provincial Social Insurance.

After many years of submitting applications, the Ba Thuoc District Social Insurance (BHXH) in coordination with other departments investigated the matter and determined that Mr. Lo Van Len (Mrs. Ha Thi Du's husband) had received the wrong pension. Although the agencies repeatedly advised Mr. Len to return the wrongly received amount, he still did not comply.

Mr. Peu continued to send petitions to the Provincial People's Committee and Thanh Hoa Provincial Social Insurance. It was not until November 30, 2015 that Thanh Hoa Provincial Social Insurance responded to Mr. Ha Van Peu's petition with the following content: Thanh Hoa Social Insurance coordinated with Ba Thuoc District People's Committee to resolve the petition and work with relevant parties. According to the file to resolve the one-time death benefit for relatives of Mrs. Ha Thi Du (daughter of Mr. Peu and Mrs. Kem), a retiree residing in Canh Nang Town, Ba Thuoc District, who died on June 16, 2011, according to the Declaration of relatives made by Mr. Lo Van Len (husband of Mrs. Ha Thi Du, Vice Chairman of Ba Thuoc District People's Committee) on August 17, 2011, in section IV of the declaration, Mr. Lo Van Len committed to take responsibility before the law for the content of the declaration as well as in case of disputes over the subsidy between relatives, and at the same time requested the Social Insurance agency to resolve the one-time death benefit for him. The relative's declaration was signed and confirmed by Mr. Trinh Van Hung, Vice Chairman of Canh Nang town.

Based on the request for settlement of death benefits for relatives of Mrs. Ha Thi Du, on December 5, 2011, Thanh Hoa Provincial Social Insurance issued Decision No. 03/QD-BHXH on the one-time death benefit for Mr. Lo Van Len, the husband, to represent the relatives to receive the funeral allowance and one-time death benefit with a total amount of 113,314,700 VND.

After the regime was resolved, Mr. Ha Van Peu (father of Mrs. Ha Thi Du, father-in-law of Mr. Lo Van Len) submitted a petition. The Social Insurance of Ba Thuoc district coordinated with the People's Committee of Ban Cong commune, Canh Nang town to organize a verification, showing that Mr. Lo Van Len's declaration was not true. At the time of Mrs. Ha Thi Du's death, her biological parents, Mr. Ha Van Peu, Mrs. Ha Thi Kem and father-in-law, Mr. Lo Van Ot, were eligible for monthly allowances. Thus, when Mrs. Ha Thi Du died, according to the law, her biological parents and father-in-law who were still alive must receive monthly allowances.

Regarding the date of Mrs. Ha Thi Du's death, through accurate verification, Mrs. Du died on March 30, 2011, not June 16, 2011 as in the application for one-time death benefit settlement that Mr. Len declared and the People's Committee of Canh Nang Town confirmed. Thus, Mr. Len's declaration of the time of death as June 2011, confirmed by the local government, led to the continued incorrect receipt of more than 2 months' salary with the amount of 7,655,500 VND. Thanh Hoa Provincial Social Insurance has determined that the dispute between Mrs. Ha Thi Du's relatives is the responsibility of Mr. Lo Van Len.

Thus, Mr. Lo Van Len, who was then the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ba Thuoc district, falsified documents and declared the deceased's relatives untruthfully. Although his wife's parents and biological father were still alive, he only declared himself personally. The total amount of money that the agencies determined that Mr. Len had wrongly received and had to return was 120,972,200 VND.

Intentionally not returning benefits received in violation of regulations

Since the authorities inspected and clarified the matter, many times from the district to the provincial level and insurance agencies have sent documents requesting Mr. Lo Van Len to return the wrongly received amount, but for many years Mr. Len still has not done so.

Specifically, on January 8, 2016, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province sent a document to Thanh Hoa Social Insurance, Thanh Hoa Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Thanh Hoa New Rural Development Program Coordination Office (where Mr. Lo Van Len is currently the Deputy Chief of Office), taking measures to force Mr. Lo Van Len to pay back more than 120 million VND to prepare documents to resolve monthly pensions for Mr. Ha Van Peu and Ms. Ha Thi Kem, but Mr. Len still did not comply.

Continuing, on June 2, 2016, Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee sent a document to the above agencies requesting measures to force Mr. Len to pay back the wrongly received amount, but once again, Mr. Lo Van Len still deliberately refused to pay back. Most recently, on July 18, 2016, Mr. Pham Dang Quyen - Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee directly sent a document and specifically requested the Director of Thanh Hoa Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Director of Thanh Hoa Social Insurance to take measures to force Mr. Lo Van Len to pay back the amount of more than 120 million VND no later than August 30, 2016.

Urging document of the Provincial People's Committee, requesting agencies to force Mr. Len to return the money.

Talking with Mr. Nguyen Van Tam - Deputy Director of Thanh Hoa Province Social Insurance, Mr. Tam said that the deadline of August 30, 2016 as directed by the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee has passed, but up to now, almost the end of September, Mr. Len has not yet returned the incorrect benefits.

Thus, Mr. Lo Van Len himself, at the time of his wife's death, was the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of a district, but he falsified documents and made false statements to enjoy the regime. When the agencies verified the truth and asked him many times to return the money, he is currently the Deputy Vice Chairman of the Provincial New Rural Development Program Coordination, but he still did not comply.

According to VOV