On May 3, Mr. Truong Xuan Thin, former Ninh Thuan Province Party Committee Secretary (from 2007 to 2010), said that he had sent a petition denouncing bid-rigging to the Chairman of Ninh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee and related organizations about an auction of an “unclean” land lot in Ninh Son district.
According to the petition, on the morning of January 10, 2020, Mr. Truong Xuan Thin went to the Hai Dang Joint Auction Center to monitor the auction of land plot number 364, sheet map number 79.
There, Mr. Thin witnessed about 20 auction participants discussing the auction of this land lot. The discussion lasted from 7:30 a.m. to almost 10 a.m. that day, initiated by Ms. N., before the auction began.
According to Mr. Truong Xuan Thin, the starting price for the aforementioned land lot was over 900 million VND. After finishing the discussion, the parties agreed to bid the highest price of 1.2 billion VND; after that, they would resell it to Mr. Hoang An (who is currently using this land lot) for 2 billion VND.
After the agreement was reached, the auction participants asked Mr. Hoang An to write a debt acknowledgment to Ms. N. for the amount of 880 million VND.
 The land lot put up for auction is currently used by Mr. Hoang An’s family’s agricultural and fishing equipment business. Photo: D.K |
At over 10 a.m. on January 10, 2020, the auction took place, and just as a result of the prior agreement, with a winning bid of around 1.2 billion VND.
A few minutes after the auction, Mr. T. (a person who had an agreement in the group) wrote an agreement to resell land lot number 364, sheet map number 79 to Mr. Hoang An for 2 billion VND. Mr. Hoang An gave this group 200 million VND in advance, along with a deposit paper.
According to the former Ninh Thuan Province Party Committee Secretary, he filed a petition to denounce the auction participants for bid-rigging, violating the Auction Law, and causing the State’s assets to be lost.
Land lot number 364, sheet map number 79 was auctioned off in 2020, and the Ninh Son District People’s Committee issued a land use right certificate to the auction winner. However, to date, the land lot still cannot be handed over to the auction winner.
According to our findings, the current state of the land is that Mr. Hoang An’s family (residing in Hanh Tri hamlet, Quang Son commune, Ninh Son district) has been building a workshop and operating a business there for more than 17 years.
In 2000, Mr. An bought a land lot of over 6,000 square meters along National Highway 27 from Ms. Le Thi Hieu (residing in Hanh Tri hamlet, Quang Son commune).
In 2007, the Ninh Son District People’s Committee issued a land use right certificate (land lot number 272, sheet map number 79) to Mr. An on the portion of the area he had purchased from Ms. Hieu. This included 400 square meters of rural residential land and 4,546 square meters of perennial land for other purposes.
The remaining 1,116 square meters of land (located within the area Mr. An purchased from Ms. Hieu) was left as part of the road boundary of National Highway 7 and the safety protection corridor, as explained by district land officials.
After receiving the certificate, Mr. An built a factory on the 400 square meter plot of land and the safety protection corridor of National Highway 27 for the past 17 years.
On January 10, 2020, the Ninh Son District Auction Council put this land lot up for auction, with the land lot number 364, sheet map number 79, with an area of 1,116 square meters, overlapping the area currently being used by Mr. An.
In a report sent to the Ninh Son District Inspectorate on March 13 providing information about the auctioned land lot, the Quang Son Commune People’s Committee (Ninh Son district) stated that the original state of the land lot had some large and small stones managed by the Commune People’s Committee. Around 2008, Mr. Hoang An’s family leveled the land to build a mechanical workshop and used it stably until now, without disputes.
However, when the Ninh Son District Inspectorate requested full information about the land lot, the Quang Son Commune People’s Committee reported that there were no records from before 2010.
The Ninh Son District People’s Committee’s leaders said that they had reviewed the entire file on the process of putting land lot number 364 up for auction and found that it was not right to put the land up for auction before the site was cleared.
According to the Ninh Thuan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the department is currently requesting the Ninh Son District People’s Committee to review the process of organizing the auction of the aforementioned land lot. At the same time, they are inviting the auction winner to explain and advocate for handling the matter in accordance with legal regulations and practices, to avoid complaints later on.
The Chairman of the Ninh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee later issued an official dispatch directing the Ninh Son District People’s Committee to settle the matter of auctioning off the land lot before the site was cleared.
Chau Tinh
