Government Office official arrested for abusing power

Tran Bich Ngoc, director of the Government Office's Department 1, was detained by the Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency on Friday for the alleged crime of abusing her positions and power while on duty, in line with the Penal Code.

Ngoc, as head of the department, is in charge of monitoring inspections, settlement of complaints and denunciations, and the prevention and fight against corruption, smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeiting.

Initial investigation results show that she breached regulations on handling inspections and complaints at the Dai Ninh urban eco-resort, tourism and trade complex project in Lam Dong province. Her acts were determined to have caused damage to the state's interests.

The Dai Ninh project is invested by Saigon-Dai Ninh Tourism Investment JSC with Nguyen Cao Tri, who was arrested in January for allegedly appropriating $40 million from Truong My Lan, former chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, as general director.

In the Dai Ninh project case, in March, the investigative agency (C03) had arrested Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Chief Inspector of Lam Dong province, to investigate the alleged crime of accepting bribes. Anh has been accused of committing violations in inspecting the Dai Ninh project.

The Central Inspection Commission concluded that Anh had showed deterioration in political ideology, morality and lifestyle; accepted bribes; violated Party regulations and State laws; and breached regulations of the Party members' code of conduct and responsibility to set a good example.

The violations caused very serious consequences and bad public opinion, adversely affecting the reputation of Party organizations and the inspectorate sector, the conclusion read.

The Dai Ninh project covers more than 3,595 hectares, of which the forest rental area is 1,050 hectares, and has investment capital of VND25.24 trillion ($1.06 billion). Its implementation is from 2010 to 2018. Up to now, the project has only built a few temporary works and left the forest to be destroyed and encroached on hundreds of hectares.