Ho Chi Minh City’s former leading official jailed

At the court (Photo: VNA)

Meanwhile, former Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment Dao Anh Kiet was jailed for six years and six months, former deputy head of the land management division at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Truong Van Ut five years, former Deputy Chief of the Office of the municipal People’s Committee Le Van Thanh four years, and former head of the urban division at the Office of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Chuong three years.

According to the indictment from the Supreme People’s Procuracy, Tin, in his former position as Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, was in charge of issues regarding construction, land management and environment in the city.

Tin and the other defendants helped the now-jailed business tycoon Phan Van Anh Vu, also known as “Vu Nhom”, to acquire many buildings and public land in prime locations in the city at extremely low prices, causing great damage to the State.

Tin was clearly aware that the land and buildings at 15 Thi Sach street in HCM City’s District 1 were under State management, according to the court.

Despite this, Tin instructed the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and Environment to lease the land to Vu, former Chairman of the Da Nang-based Bac Nam 79 Construction JSC, and not report the lease to the Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee at that time.

The other defendants then illegally handed over a 2,345sq.m lot at 15 Thi Sach street in HCM City to one of the companies owned by Vu.

They also asked Tin to issue illegal decisions on land lease, house sale and tax deductions.

In addition, Tin and the other defendants also helped Vu and his partners build an 18-storey building at 15 Thi Sach street in HCM City and sell and rent it out to 114 clients, earning more than 1.033 trillion VND.

As of September 17 last year, when police began investigating the case, their acts had caused a loss of 808.7 billion VND (34.77 million USD) to the State.