On January 31, the People’s Court of Khanh Hoa Province sentenced 9 defendants, who are former officials and leaders of the province, for the crime of “Violating regulations on management, use of state assets causing losses and wastefulness” in the Mường Thanh Viễn Triều project (Pham Van Dong Street, Nha Trang City).
Accordingly, the Court sentenced the defendants as follows: Nguyen Chien Thang (former Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee) to 5 years in prison; Dao Cong Thien (former Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee) and Vo Tan Thai (former Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment) each to 3 years in prison; Nguyen Ngoc Tam (former Deputy Director of the Department of Finance of Khanh Hoa Province) to 2 years and 6 months in prison; Vu Xuan Thieng (former Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment) to 2 years in prison.
The defendants Tran Quang Buu (former Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa Provincial Construction Department), Nguyen Van Nhut (former Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa Provincial Planning and Investment Department), Tran Sy Quan (former Deputy Director of the Tax Department), and Le Huy Toan (former Vice Chairman of Nha Trang City People’s Committee) were all sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison.
Mr. Nguyen Chien Thang, former Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee |
The verdict determined that the 9 defendants had committed many violations in the selection of investors, issuance of investment certificates, agreement on architectural plans and planning; violations in issuing decisions on land allocation, land lease, land valuation, land price approval, and land use right certificates without conducting auctions or tenders.
Their actions resulted in a loss of over 5.6 billion VND to the state budget in 2015 and over 356 billion VND as of January 6, 2022 (the date when the violations were discovered).
According to the Court, the land area in Bãi Dương should have been recovered, but Thien Trieu Investment Corporation and currently Mường Thanh Viễn Triều Joint Stock Company (under the Mường Thanh Group) completed the construction and put it into use.
The Court considered that Mường Thanh Viễn Triều Joint Stock Company directly benefited from the defendants’ violations. The defendants voluntarily paid a total of 190 million VND to remedy the consequences. Therefore, the Court ordered Mường Thanh Viễn Triều Joint Stock Company to pay the remaining amount of over 356.7 billion VND to the State budget.
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Previously, the defendants Nguyen Chien Thang, Dao Cong Thien, and Vo Tan Thai were also sentenced by the Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Court to prison for their violations in 3 projects: Spiritual Ecotourism Area Cửu Long Sơn Tự and Mountain and River Villas Vĩnh Trung (in Nha Trang City); allocation of land for the former Khanh Hoa Political School Headquarters (1 Tran Hung Dao Street, Nha Trang City) to Thanh Yen Joint Stock Company; Nha Trang Golden Gate project (28E Tran Phu Street, Nha Trang City). In these cases, Nguyen Chien Thang was sentenced to a total of 17 years and 6 months in prison. With the new verdict just announced, Thang has been sentenced to a total of 22 years and 6 months in prison. |
Ky Nam
