Five individuals detained for violating regulations on land use rights auctions.
On the evening of December 3rd, the Investigative Police Agency issued a decision to temporarily detain the following individuals: Pham Ngoc Tuan, Ngo Van Duong, Nguyen Duc Thanh, Nguyen The Trung, and Nguyen The Quan, for the offense of "Violating regulations on asset auction activities".
Previously, in November 2024, Pham Ngoc Tuan (born in 1991, residing in Dong Anh town, Dong Anh district, Hanoi) learned about the auction of land use rights for residential land in the rural infrastructure development project (Dong Lai village, Quang Tien commune, Soc Son district, organized by the Soc Son District People's Committee). He then asked Ngo Van Duong (born in 1994, residing in Xuan Non commune, Dong Anh district, Hanoi) to purchase auction documents issued by Thanh Xuan Company (address: Nhan Chinh ward, Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi) - the unit coordinating the auction.
To ensure he won the auction for his desired land plots, Pham Ngoc Tuan negotiated and discussed with Nguyen Thi Quynh Lien (born in 1981, residing in Nguyen Khe commune, Dong Anh district), Nguyen Duc Thanh (born in 1992, residing in Lam Lang area, Van Duong ward, Bac Ninh city, Bac Ninh province), Nguyen The Trung, Nguyen The Quan, and Ngo Van Duong (all born in 1994, residing in Xuan Non commune, Dong Anh district) about participating in the auction together and agreeing to raise the price during the auction.
Specifically, Tuan provided a price list for each plot of land that he had calculated and prepared beforehand. According to this list, the plots of land were valued at approximately 20 million to 32 million VND per square meter.2The estimated price per plot of land was between 1.7 billion VND and 3.9 billion VND. The bidders determined this to be the highest possible price for each plot. Therefore, if the highest bidder in the fourth round remained below the price Tuan had stated in the calculation, the group consisting of Duong, Lien, Thanh, Quan, and Trung would participate in the fifth and sixth rounds, but would not bid above the price Tuan had assessed. If someone in the fourth round bid above the maximum price Tuan had set, the bidders would offer an unusually high price in the fifth round, but withdraw from the auction in the final round (the sixth round). Consequently, the auction would be halted and re-auctioned later, as it did not complete all six rounds as per regulations. In this case, the bidders would not lose their deposit and would have another chance to participate in the auction to purchase the desired plot of land.
To carry out their plan, the suspects transferred money to Duong and Tuan; Tuan then transferred a total of 3.616 billion VND to Thanh Xuan Company as a deposit.Auction to buy land.
In fact, at the auction on November 29th, the bidders initially bid in order until the prices reached a level that was considered achievable. However, when it was discovered that the bids for 36 out of 58 land plots exceeded the maximum price agreed upon beforehand, in the fifth round of bidding, the bidders offered very high prices, far exceeding the starting price; Pham Ngoc Tuan even offered a price of over 30 billion VND/m2 (approximately 12,000 times higher than the starting price)... leading to the unsuccessful auction of 36 land plots.
Following signs of irregularities in the auction, the Director of the Hanoi City Police Department instructed the Anti-Corruption, Economic Crime, Smuggling, and Environmental Crime Investigation Department to coordinate with relevant units to urgently investigate and clarify any suspected violations of the law by the individuals involved. Simultaneously, he directed operational units to intensify their efforts to promptly detect, combat, and strictly punish any acts of exploiting legal policies to engage in illegal activities in the field of asset auctions in general and land use rights auctions in particular within the city.
The City Police Investigation Agency is consolidating documents and evidence to initiate a criminal case, prosecute the suspects, and strictly handle all related individuals in accordance with regulations.
