Lam Dong province Party chief arrested for property project violations

Tran Duc Quan, secretary of Lam Dong's Party Committee, was detained Wednesday on charges of violations related to the Dai Ninh eco-resort, trade and urban area project in the Central Highlands province.

Quan was arrested by the Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency (C03) for further investigation into the crime of abusing his position while on duty, said Lieutenant General To An Xo, a ministry spokesperson.

Quan, 57, is a Party Central Committee member, Lam Dong's Party chief and chairman of the provincial People's Council.

He has worked for many years in the Central Highlands province, holding positions like Party chief of Da Huoai district, standing vice chairman of the provincial Party Committee's inspection committee, and head of the provincial Party Committee's propaganda department. From 2020, he held the position of Lam Dong's Party chief.

The Central Inspection Committee has concluded that Quan showed a lack of responsibility in leadership, direction, inspection and supervision, allowing a number of violations and shortcomings in state management of forestry, investment, land, housing, and environmental protection to occur.

Regarding the Dai Ninh eco-resort, trade and urban area project, C03 previously arrested Tran Van Hiep, chairman of Lam Dong People's Committee; and Nguyen Ngoc Anh, chief inspector of the province, on charges of accepting bribes.

Legal proceedings have also been initiated against Tran Bich Ngoc, director of the department of monitoring inspection work, resolving complaints and denunciations, preventing and combating corruption, smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods under the Government Office. She has been accused of abusing her position and power while on duty.

Initial investigation results showed that Ngoc took advantage of her position to go against her assigned duties and responsibilities in handling inspections and complaints about the project, causing losses to the state.

In mid-2020, when announcing the inspection results of land management-use and construction investment in Lam Dong province, the Government Inspectorate recommended terminating the operations and recovering the land from three projects that breached the laws on land and investment, including a project run by Saigon-Dai Ninh Tourism Investment Joint Stock Company.

The Dai Ninh eco-resort, trade and urban area project covers more than 3,595 hectares, of which 1,050 hectares was designated to lease forest land, with a total investment capital of VND25,243 billion ($1.03 billion). The expected implementation time was from 2010 to 2018. To date, a few temporary works have been built on the project site, but hundreds of hectares of forest have been destroyed or encroached on.

In the case of Van Thinh Phat Group, this project was mentioned in the results of the investigation. In 2020, Capella Group chairman Nguyen Cao Tri spent VND2,230 billion ($90.61 million) on a 58% stake in Saigon Dai Ninh Company. Tri later agreed to sell his entire stake to Van Thinh Phat's chairwoman Truong My Lan for VND3,000 billion ($122 million). Lan then transferred deposits to Tri five times worth VND20 million and VND127 billion ($5.16 million) in total.

When Lan was arrested, Tri appropriated $40 million from her, including the money from this project and two others.