Suspended legislator held in alleged real estate fraud

January 09, 2015 | 09:19

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Vietnamese police have detained a suspended female lawmaker for the alleged housing swindles worth tens of millions of US dollars that took place many years ago.

Police from the Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday night arrested Chau Thi Thu Nga, 50, a suspended National Assembly (NA) deputy, at her home in Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, on charges of “appropriating property through swindling” under Article 139 of the Penal Code.

Police also searched her house at the same time.

Earlier on the same day, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee issued a resolution suspending the duties and rights of Nga as a NA deputy.

Nga is the chairwoman of the Land and Housing Construction and Investment JSC (Housing Group) based in Hanoi.

She has been detained for her offenses related to two real estate projects, one of which is located at B5 Cau Dien and another is at Phu Thuong Ward in Hanoi.

The B5 Cau Dien project was developed by a partnership between the Housing Group and Hanoi Import-Export Investment Construction and Development One-Member Co., Ltd. (HAIC).

In 2009 the partnership offered to sell flats as commercial apartments at six 28-32 storey tenement buildings under the B5 Cau Dien project and collected deposits from buyers.

The HAIC, whose chairman and CEO was Nguyen Van Tuan, collected more than VND100 billion (US$4.67 million) while the Housing Group received nearly VND500 billion ($23.3 million).

Meanwhile, this project was aimed at providing houses for the city’s re-settlement house fund, not houses for selling as commercial houses.

In fact the project has only four 11-21 story tenement buildings, not six as announced by Nga and Tuan to buyers.

Regarding the other project in Phu Thuong Ward, the Housing Group in 2007 offered for sale a 12-story tenement building and seven housing blocks in 2007 for VND7 million ($327) per m2 .

However, this project has been left undeveloped, while the Housing Group has collected from buyers as much as 90 percent of the value of apartments.

Before Nga’s arrest, Tuan had been detained on charges of “deliberately acting against the State’s regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences.”

Nga has been arrested after competent agencies received many complaints and accusations against her in relation to her business.