Binh Thuan vice chairman arrested over land violations

Nguyen Van Phong, vice chairman of the Binh Thuan People's Committee, was arrested Monday for violations at a real estate project in Phan Thiet town.

Phong, also former director of the south-central province's finance department, was detained for the alleged "lack of responsibility causing serious consequences" per the Penal Code.

On the same day, the Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency placed seven others under investigation for "violations of regulations on the management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste" at the Tan Viet Phat 2 residential, service and commercial area project in Binh Thuan province's Phan Thiet town.

In 2008, the Binh Thuan People's Committee planned to auction three plots of land with a total area of 92,600 square meters. In 2013, the committee approved the starting price of over VND111 billion ($4.7 million) for the plots, or VND1.2 million ($51) per square meter.

In 2017, the province's department of natural resources and environment proposed the committee allow Tan Viet Phat JSC to attain the land use rights without going through any auction, and the price offered is the starting price. This was agreed by relevant departments and the people's committee.

The local government explained that auctions were not needed as Tan Viet Phat was the only entity registering to join auctions.

The investigative agent later hired an independent valuation unit to determine the price of the land lots.

Accordingly, the value of land use rights of the 92,600 square meters at the time of land allocation on March 7, 2017 was nearly VND156.5 billion ($6.62 million), or VND1.7 million per square meters.

This means the province's budget suffered a loss of more than VND45 billion ($1.9 million).