District chairman and 15 accomplices sentenced to prison for land compensation violations
The defendants were convicted of "Intentionally violating State regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences."
On the afternoon of November 12, after more than a week of trial and deliberation, the People's Court of Phu Yen province sentenced 16 defendants related to the case of compensation for site clearance and resettlement support for the Vung Ro Oil Refinery Project in Hoa Tam commune, Dong Hoa district, Phu Yen province.
The defendants were convicted of "Intentionally violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences" under Article 165 of the 1999 Penal Code (amended in 2009) and mitigating circumstances were applied to the defendants under the 2015 Penal Code.
|
| The defendants listened to the court's verdict. |
Specifically, defendant Nguyen Tai, former Chairman of the Dong Hoa District People's Committee, received a sentence of 12 years in prison; Nguyen Kich, former Director of the Dong Hoa District Land Fund Development Center, received an 8-year prison sentence; Huynh Ngoc Thang, former Deputy Director of the Dong Hoa District Land Fund Development Center, received a 4-year prison sentence; Huynh Ngoc Suong, former Vice Chairman of the Dong Hoa District People's Committee, received a 3-year suspended sentence. Defendants Nguyen Ky Tong, former Head of the Dong Hoa District Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and Le Van Hoang, former Chairman of the Hoa Tam Commune People's Committee; and Bui Xuan Quang, former employee of the Dong Hoa District Land Fund Development Center, were all sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison, suspended. The remaining defendants received suspended sentences of 1 to 2 years.
The trial panel also declared that the defendants were jointly liable to compensate the State budget for the loss of more than 9.2 billion VND. Previously, the indictment of the People's Procuracy of Phu Yen province determined that from July 2013 to April 2014, during the process of implementing compensation for site clearance and resettlement support for the Vung Ro Oil Refinery project, these officials intentionally did not comply with State regulations on compensation and site clearance.
Specifically, these officials have compensated and supported land with insufficient density, encroached land, illegally built houses; supported career conversion for working officials, retired officials, people from outside the province, not directly involved in production, and those without local household registration...
In addition, these officials also created and legalized compensation and support documents for excess aquaculture areas, using the names of many other people to receive money higher than prescribed./.