Another former HCM City vice mayor arrested

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Linh Pham 20:29, 2018/12/08

The former official was probed for his decision on leasing a 5,000-square meter land lot in HCM City’s downtown District 1 without bidding.

Nguyen Thanh Tai, former vice chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, was arrested on December 8 for “breaking regulations on managing and using state assets, causing losses.”

Former HCM City's vice chairman Nguyen Thanh Tai. Photo: MPS

Tai, 66, who served as the city’s vice chairman between 2010 and 2015 was probed for his decision on leasing a 5,000-square meter land lot in HCM City’s downtown District 1 without bidding, causing a loss of billions of dong to the state budget.

According to the Government Inspectorate, the land lot is marketed at VND400 million (US$17,391) per square meter (sq.m) while it was priced at VND177 million (US$7,695)/sq.m by the city’s Department of Finance.

Under Article 219 in the Criminal Code, anyone who is charged with the above crime may face an imprisonment up to 20 years.

On the same day, the Ministry of Public Security probed three others for the same charge. The trio includes Dao Anh Kiet, former director of HCM City’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Truong Van Ut, from the department, and Nguyen Hoai Nam, chief of District 2’s Party Committee.

Kiet and Ut were detained in a case relating to former vice chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Huu Tin.

So far, a former deputy chief of HCM City’s Party Committee and two former vice chairmen of the municipal People’s Committee were arrested for “legal infractions” relating to land issues.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the biggest economic metropolis, the land price in some areas is equal to that in Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, up to more than VND1 billion (US$43,478)/sq.m.

Nguyen Van Dinh, deputy head of Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS), attributed the high prices to less land availability, increasing demand, high taxes on land, and a lot of fees caused by cumbersome procedures.

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