Long Son Company under investigation after shooting leaves 3 dead

Party Central Committee member and Dak Nong Provincial Party Secretary Le Dien said that Long Son Company "stands above the law" when it arbitrarily leveled people's land, which was the cause of the shooting that killed 3 people and injured 16 others.

- What is the responsibility of the locality in the role of "arbitrator" to promote the support agreement between Long Son Company (Tuy Duc district) and the people, from 2008 to present?

- The dialogue between the people and this company has been directed by the province many times. The district has also invited the parties to negotiate many times. However, the company has also been "timid" about the level of support with the people, so the case has been prolonged. In the immediate future, the province focuses on ensuring security and order, keeping the people safe and moving towards establishing villages and self-governing committees because most of the people living in this area are from other provinces.

The Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee is reviewing and assigning relevant agencies to clarify the responsibilities of individuals and localities in the process of handling the incident related to Long Son Company, leading to the heartbreaking case. The relevant officials must also review their responsibilities to have a direction for handling. The Provincial Party Committee also reported the incident to the Central Party Secretariat.

Weapons carried by a group of people from Long Son Company when leveling people's fields. Photo: QT

- How do you evaluate when people think that there is a disregard, even "protection" for businesses by officials, because they reported that Long Son Company leveled their fields but it was not handled promptly?

- I have assigned verification of signs of laxity, even clarifying whether there is "protection" or any benefits for businesses. After that, the responsibility of related officials will be strictly handled. The recent incident is a lesson for management work, staying close to the locality, listening to the wishes of the people when disputes have not been resolved completely.

It must be affirmed that since the land allocation in 2008, the Provincial People's Committee requested Long Son Company to negotiate with the people who were cultivating. However, this company kept making promises and then not fulfilling them. To let the above case happen, first of all, Long Son Company's mistake was to arbitrarily level the land without reporting to the local authorities. Second, the company had no right to forcibly seize the land that people were cultivating, even if it was encroached land. While the province and district directed to stop, this company did not comply with the land law. More specifically, it disregarded the law and the instructions of the relevant agencies.

- What is the opinion of the prosecution agencies on the property destruction and related acts of Long Son Company against households in recent times?

- The Provincial Party Committee has assigned the provincial police to urgently investigate and clarify violations related to Long Son Company. Because this company arbitrarily organized people to forcibly level and take land from people who were growing cashew and coffee, which is wrong. They also used underage labor.

Whoever you are, you must respect the law. While the provincial and district departments are trying to call on people and companies to continue negotiating to resolve the remaining disputes, they are putting themselves above the law.

- Specifically, what is the province's handling plan for the recent conflict between people and businesses?

- This month, the working group chaired by the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, together with relevant departments, will continue to survey the situation of the residential areas in the projects in Quang Truc and Dak Ngo communes (Tuy Duc district) to have a plan to stabilize the population. At the same time, establish self-management committees in these areas, set up medical stations and move towards establishing new communes to stabilize the lives and production of people and businesses in the area.

In fact, at the end of 2014, the province also conducted a survey and had a project to stabilize the population cultivating on forestry land in these two communes.

Ms. Mai Thi Khuyen (wife of defendant Dang Van Hien) holds a long-standing cashew tree that remained after Long Son Company arbitrarily leveled it.

- People think that the project assignment to Long Son Company was not in accordance with the prescribed procedures, such as not surveying the land that people were cultivating, which led to the dispute. Meanwhile, Long Son Company offered an agreement of 3-5 million VND per hectare, so people cannot accept it?

From the beginning, the assignment of the project to the company for forest planting and protection was in accordance with the correct procedures. However, the company made mistakes in the implementation of the project. Because when assigning the project, the Provincial People's Committee requested the company to be responsible for supporting households according to regulations. The province is implementing the recovery of many areas of this company, leaving only a few hundred hectares for project implementation. The remaining area will be distributed to people according to the population stabilization project, each household without land will be granted 1,000 m2 of residential land, 2 hectares of production land and 30 hectares of forest land for protection and production.

In addition, the Provincial Party Committee also assigned the Provincial People's Committee to direct the inspection and review of all projects, reclaim ineffective projects, and allocate land for people to cultivate to the people (those without land).

According to Ho Chi Minh City Law