According to the Government Electronic Information Portal on the morning of September 17, to continue clarifying violations in the case of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties; Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences" occurring at the Ministry of Industry and Trade and provinces and cities, the Ministry of Public Security requested the Vietnam Power Investment and Management Joint Stock Company to explain and provide information and documents on its role and responsibility for the Loc Ninh 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 solar power plant project in Binh Phuoc province.
At the same time, request Applied Technical Systems Joint Stock Company to explain its role and responsibility, provide information and documents related to the granting of electricity operation licenses and recognition of commercial operation dates for Loc Ninh, Loc Ninh 2 and Loc Ninh 3 Energy Joint Stock Companies.
The Electricity Trading Company and the National Power System Control Center were also asked to provide documents and records related to the Loc Ninh 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 projects.
Regarding Loc Ninh 3 Energy Joint Stock Company, the Security Investigation Agency determined that within just 3 months from October to December 2020, this company completed the investment in construction and commercial operation of the Loc Ninh 3 project on an area of up to nearly 149.6 hectares of production forest land under the use of Loc Ninh Rubber One Member Co., Ltd.
This construction area has not been decided by the competent authority to reclaim land, allocate land, lease land and change the purpose of use from production forest land to energy project land. The project has not been granted a construction permit and has no investment policy decision.
Therefore, Loc Ninh 3 Energy Joint Stock Company's implementation of this project violates a series of regulations and the project is not eligible for VAT refund.
However, in April 2021, this company requested a refund of the State budget revenue, sending a dossier requesting the Binh Phuoc Tax Department to refund more than VND 145 billion in VAT from the investment in building the factory.
Then, Loc Ninh 3 Energy Joint Stock Company was approved by a series of defendants who were former officials of the Binh Phuoc Provincial Tax Department to resolve the case and receive the above tax refund.
After the Ministry of Public Security got involved, from June to August 2023, Loc Ninh 3 Energy Joint Stock Company returned the refunded tax amount and more than 27.4 billion VND in late payment fees.
From the violations in this case, along with the defendants who were former leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and related agencies and enterprises, the Security Investigation Agency proposed that the Supreme People's Procuracy prosecute Nguyen Duy Khanh - former Deputy Director of the Binh Phuoc Provincial Tax Department and two defendants who were former department-level leaders of the Binh Phuoc Tax Department, Tran Van Dinh and Pham Quang Vinh.
Previously, in the Investigation Conclusion of the case on May 28, the Ministry of Public Security Investigation Security Agency also determined that from December 2020 to the end of November 2022, the total amount of money that the Electricity Trading Company paid to Loc Ninh 3 Energy Joint Stock Company was more than 749.9 billion VND, higher than the electricity selling price that the project enjoyed by more than 209 billion VND and caused direct damage to Vietnam Electricity Group.
