About preferential loans in Anh Son

(Baonghean) - Recently, public opinion has reflected the issue of preferential capital from programs for poor and disadvantaged households being disbursed to officials of the People's Committee of Hoi Son commune, Anh Son district for loans; loan applications with incorrect addresses were still confirmed by the leaders of the People's Committee of the commune so that officials could borrow preferential capital from the social policy bank. However, through verification, the incident was not entirely like that...

What do insiders say?

According to the report, 4 households borrowing capital in Hoi Son commune declared incorrect addresses and 3 households borrowed capital to the wrong subjects but were still confirmed by the Commune People's Committee to borrow preferential credit capital.

To find out the truth of the matter, we went to the house of Ms. Do Thanh Tu Uyen in Hamlet 4, Hoi Son Commune, Anh Son. Receiving us, Ms. Uyen expressed: As a low-income contract employee of the commune party committee, in 2013 my husband and I discussed borrowing capital to develop the economy. With a loan of 30 million VND from the policy bank and savings, the family invested in building a livestock barn and opened a mechanical and civil woodworking workshop.

The carpentry workshop of Ms. Do Thanh Tu Uyen's family in village 4, Hoi Son commune (Anh Son). Photo by Viet Phuong

"At that time, the commune was having a program to lend money to develop the economy in difficult areas of the policy bank, so I completed the loan procedures. The loan was for the right target and for the right investment purpose, but for the convenience of paying monthly interest to the bank, I completed the loan procedures in village 3 (which should have been village 4 where I live). I didn't expect that just because of the wrong village address in the application, our capital would be recovered before the deadline, and the head of the loan group would be disciplined," Ms. Uyen said.

In 2013, Mr. Bui Xuan Dai was the secretary of the Youth Union of Village 5. He applied for a loan from the Youth Union in Village 3 with the amount of 12 million VND from the clean water program to invest in a clean water system and toilets. Mr. Dai shared: 4 years ago, I borrowed 12 million VND to invest in this system but it was still not enough to build a decent toilet, but people reacted that I was an official who took advantage of poor households' loans. I knew it was wrong because I did not know the process of joining the group; but we borrowed from the right people, used the loan for the right purpose, and paid the principal and interest, so there was no debt or any exploitation.

The borrowers said they were officials but in fact they were mainly contract employees, facing many difficulties in life. Mr. Nguyen Huu Dung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoi Son commune said: In the case of Mr. Bui Xuan Dai, who borrowed 12 million VND in 2013, at that time he was a permanent police officer of the commune, receiving a salary of 920,000 VND/month; Ms. Do Thanh Tu Uyen borrowed in 2013 to invest in livestock barns and a mechanical workshop, she was only a contract employee of the commune Party Committee office, with a salary of 1.1 million VND/month. The reason these people borrowed at the wrong address was because they were active in the Youth Union, so they thought they would apply to join and borrow capital at the Savings and Loan Group entrusted by the Youth Union in Village 3 to easily pay interest and principal according to regulations, there was no personal gain here. In fact, at the time these households borrowed capital, the lending interest rate of these programs was already 0.9%/month, equivalent to 10.8%/year - equal to the market interest rate and not as preferential or "profitable" as many people think.

It should also be clarified that for many years now, those who have had the need to borrow capital from the programs of the policy bank in Hoi Son commune have all had their capital sources fully met for the programs for lending to poor and near-poor households, clean water and environmental sanitation in rural areas, developing production and business in difficult areas, and students, so there is no ambiguity in the evaluation to compete for capital sources.

The loan is for the right person

Through inspections of the households borrowing capital as reflected by public opinion, it was found that these households were all eligible beneficiaries, had the need and used the loan capital for the right purpose, and fulfilled the obligation to pay interest in full according to the State's regulations. Reason for borrowing capital at the wrong address: Because some leaders of the Savings and Loan Capital Groups did not understand the regulations of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies on the process of establishing the group, they flexibly allowed the above households in other villages to join the Group to borrow capital.

Mr. Tran Khac Thi - Director of Anh Son District Social Policy Bank said: In December 2016, through the inspection process, Anh Son District Social Policy Bank discovered a number of households with addresses that were not consistent with the addresses in the loan records at the Savings and Loan Groups of the villages with amounts ranging from 8 to 30 million VND from various preferential loan programs and disbursed to the officials of the People's Committee of Hoi Son Commune. The entire amount of loans given to the wrong addresses mentioned above has been recovered by Anh Son District Social Policy Bank, the collective leadership of the Commune People's Committee and related organizations and unions are in the process of organizing a review of responsibilities, the leaders of the Savings and Loan Groups that caused the violations have all been replaced.

According to Decision 30-2007/QD-TTg dated March 5, 2007 promulgating the list of administrative units in disadvantaged areas, Hoi Son is still in a disadvantaged area, so officials can also borrow capital for production and business if they have valid documents and a business plan. In 2015, Hoi Son commune was removed from the list of disadvantaged communes (according to Decision 1049/QD-TTg dated June 26, 2014 of the Prime Minister), so households will not be able to borrow capital under the production and business program for disadvantaged areas. Thus, customers such as Ms. Do Thanh Tu Uyen who borrowed in 2013 and Mr. Cao Xuan Cong who borrowed in 2014 for production and business are the right subjects, there is no story of snatching capital from the poor.

The domestic water project was invested with a loan from the social policy bank of Mr. Bui Xuan Dai's family in Hoi Son, Anh Son. Photo by Viet Phuong

As for the Rural Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation Program under Decision No. 62/2004/QD-TTg dated April 16, 2004 of the Prime Minister, households legally residing in rural areas that do not have clean water or sanitation facilities or have facilities but they do not meet standards or do not ensure hygiene, and households that, after having paid off all loan debt, need to borrow new loans to build new or renovate and upgrade rural clean water and environmental sanitation facilities that have been used for many years, are damaged, degraded, and do not meet National Technical Standards as confirmed by the People's Committee at the commune level, are still eligible to borrow capital from the program.

However, although there was no abuse of capital from the poor and policy beneficiaries, the mistakes that occurred were partly the responsibility of the entrusted associations, local authorities and the Social Policy Bank at all levels in the inspection and supervision of the entrusted activities for grassroots units according to the guidance in Document No. 3775/NHCS-KTNB. The above incident shows that improving the quality of the activities of the Savings and Credit Groups is an issue that the Management Board of the Savings and Credit Groups and the entrusted associations must pay attention to. The Policy Bank needs to continue to advise the Board of Directors to direct the entrusted socio-political organizations and the Commune-level Poverty Reduction Committee to pay attention to and closely monitor the activities of the Savings and Credit Groups in villages (hamlets) in guiding borrowers to join the Savings and Credit Groups at the correct address of residence; regularly inspect the use of loans to guide borrowers to use them for the right purpose and effectively.

Viet Phuong