Former Binh Duong Party chief jailed for 7 years

A Hanoi court Tuesday sentenced Tran Van Nam and Tran Thanh Liem, former Party chief and former chairman of Binh Duong province, to seven years in prison each.

They were found guilty of land mismanagement that led to the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars to the exchequer.

The Hanoi People’s Court concluded that violations in the management of two plots of "gold land" in the heart of the southern province, one 145 hectares and the other 43 hectares, over a period of more than five years (2012-2017), caused losses of about VND6,590 billion ($281.4 million) to the state.

So far, VND1,260 billion has been returned to the state coffers, VND1,060 billion by the defendants and VND200 billion from the 3/2 Corporation as additional payment of land rents. There were 28 defendants in the case.

Nam, former Secretary of Binh Duong’s Party Committee, was sentenced to seven years in prison for “violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste.”

He was found guilty of not preventing violations, even “covering up and directing subordinates” to make documents to legalize land allocations.

He agreed with the advice of subordinates that led to land violations and approved application of lower prices when allocating the two plots of land to the 3/2 Corporation, resulting in a loss of more than VND761 billion ($32.49 million) to the state.

Former Binh Duong chairman Liem was sentenced to seven years in prison on the same charges.

Liem knew that the 145-hectare plot had been approved by the province as part of the 3/2 Corporation's assets after equitization. He also knew that the land plot was included in the capital contribution of this corporation to a private company. Still, he signed a decision not to include this land plot in the corporate value after equitization, causing a loss of more than VND4,000 billion ($170.8 million) to the state.

Nguyen Van Minh, former chairman of the 3/2 Corporation, was sentenced to 27 years in prison, the highest sentence among 28 defendants in the case.

He was found guilty of violating regulations on management and use of state property, causing loss and waste, and embezzlement of property.