Former Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee sentenced to 8 years in prison
The trial panel sentenced defendant Nguyen Thanh Tai to 8 years in prison for the crime of "Violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste".
On the morning of September 20, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced the originalVice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's CommitteeNguyen Thanh Tai and 4 accomplices committed the crime of "Violating regulations on management and use of State assets causing loss and waste".
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| Former Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, defendant Nguyen Thanh Tai at the trial. Photo: Thanh Chung/VNA |
The jury sentenced defendant Nguyen Thanh Tai to 8 years in prison for the above crime.
The panel of judges determined that, based on the evidence and the trial process, the public response in court proved the defendants' criminal acts as charged in the indictment.
Specifically, the land plot at 8-12 Le Duan (District 1) has a total area of more than 4,800m2, is a state-owned asset, assigned to the Ho Chi Minh City Housing Business Management One Member Limited Liability Company for management and leased to 4 companies under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
On November 20, 2007, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City approved the investment in the construction of a hotel and part of a commercial center.
Ho Chi Minh City Housing Business Management Company, with Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy (currently wanted) as Director, signed a document proposing to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to establish a new legal entity in the form of a joint stock company, allowing the Housing Business Management Company to mobilize additional capital sources for implementation.
This proposal was later approved by Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tai.
Taking advantage of her previous relationship with defendant Nguyen Thanh Tai, defendant Le Thi Thanh Thuy, then Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Thang Nam One Member Limited Liability Company, sent a document to the Housing Business Management Company asking to participate in the project.
Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy signed a document introducing Hoa Thang Nam Company to participate in the project and was approved by Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tai without assigning a specialized agency to assess experience and financial capacity.
After that, a group of 4 companies of the Ministry of Industry and Trade that were renting premises at 8-12 Le Duan agreed with Kinh Do Investment Limited Company to establish a new legal entity, Lavenue Investment Joint Stock Company, appointing Le Thi Thanh Thuy as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors.
After that, the companies transferred their shares, causing the public land at 8-12 Le Duan to fall into the hands of private enterprises, causing a loss of more than 1,927 billion VND to the State.
Defendant Le Thi Thanh Thuy is an accomplice, having the role of inciting defendant Nguyen Thanh Tai to benefit from the documents that Mr. Tai signed, so she must bear almost equal responsibility.
Defendants Dao Anh Kiet (former Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City), Nguyen Thanh Nam (former Secretary of the District 2 Party Committee) and Truong Van Ut (former Deputy Head of the Land Management Department of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment) even though they knew that the project dossier was incomplete, not approved, not appraised... but still proposed to sign decisions that violated the law such as the decision to allocate land and lease land in the form of designation without auctioning land use rights; the decision to apply two forms of land allocation and land lease for the same project, to liquidate house No. 12 Le Duan without auctioning the property... leading to the consequences of the case as above.
In addition to defendant Nguyen Thanh Tai, the Trial Panel sentenced defendants Le Thi Thanh Thuy to 5 years in prison; Dao Anh Kiet to 5 years in prison, combined with the previous sentence, 11 years and 6 months in prison; Nguyen Hoai Nam to 4 years in prison; Truong Van Ut to 3 years in prison, combined with the previous sentence, 8 years in prison, all for the crime of "Violating regulations on management and use of State assets, causing loss and waste".
Regarding civil liability and handling of evidence, the Trial Panel ordered the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to revoke all land use right certificates and documents issued to Lavenue Company related to the land lot 8-12 Le Duan.
In addition, the Trial Panel ordered the 5 defendants to jointly compensate more than 4.7 billion VND in damages and ordered the confiscation of the money that Hoa Thang Nam Company contributed as capital to Lavenue Company.State budget.
The trial panel also decided to maintain the seizure of many houses and lands of the defendants to ensure the obligation to execute the judgment./.