Why did the former Minister of Justice delay the procedure to return the official house?

Speaking to the press, former Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong said that next Monday he will complete the procedures to return the official house according to regulations and deadlines.

Former Minister Ha Hung Cuong. Photo: Tien Phong

As reported by the press, on March 22, 2017, Deputy Minister of Construction Le Quang Hung signed a Notice to Mr. Ha Hung Cuong - Former Minister of Justice on the return of official housing at apartment No. 1203, 12th floor, tower B, CT1 - CT2 apartment building (Yen Hoa new urban area, Cau Giay, Hanoi).

According to this announcement, Mr. Cuong has no longer met the criteria to rent government-issued housing and requested to hand over the above apartment to the management and operation unit according to current housing law regulations.

The representative of the Ministry of Construction confirmed that, based on the 2014 Housing Law, public housing must be returned to the State when no longer eligible to rent housing or when there is no longer a need to rent public housing or when there is a violation that is subject to housing revocation according to the provisions of this Law within no more than 90 days from the date of receipt of the notice from the public housing management agency.

In addition, Decision No. 2544/QD-TTg dated December 30, 2016 of the Prime Minister stipulates that "...100% of public housing used for the wrong purpose, for the wrong subjects, or for subjects whose time of using public housing has expired according to regulations shall be recovered". Therefore, in comparison with the provisions of the current housing law, Mr. Ha Hung Cuong is responsible for returning the public housing in June 2017.

Afterwards, former Minister Ha Hung Cuong submitted a petition to the Ministry of Construction, requesting an extension of the lease term for one more year (until June 30, 2018) or the right to buy back the official housing apartment.

“Currently, I am not in Hanoi and have not received any response from the Ministry of Construction. However, yesterday afternoon (June 16), I proactively contacted the person in charge of managing public housing according to the instructions of the Ministry of Construction. I have made an appointment for Monday morning to complete the procedures to return the house” – said the former Minister of Justice.

The former Minister also said that he wrote a letter expressing his wish but was ready to return the official house according to regulations. “I am still ready to return it according to regulations. When I wrote the letter, I respected the agency that received the letter and how it would respond to me,” Mr. Cuong shared.

Confirming with Tien Phong, the leader of Tay Do Real Estate Management Company Limited - the unit managing and operating public housing according to the instructions of the Ministry of Construction, said that Mr. Ha Hung Cuong had discussed and made an appointment to come over on Monday to work on the handover of public housing.

According to TPO