Demanding "huge" compensation
After the Binh Dinh Provincial Inspectorate exposed the violations, Vinh Thanh district issued a decision to revoke the red books, land that had been granted, and red books that were granted illegally to the family of former Secretary of Vinh Thanh District Party Committee Nguyen Dinh Kim (over 138 hectares), Ms. Vo Thi Anh Nhan (wife of former Chairman of the District People's Committee Tran Cong Sy - nearly 0.8 hectares) and Mr. Nguyen Chi Tranh (Mr. Kim's nephew - over 10 hectares).
However, up to now, only the family of former District Party Secretary Nguyen Dinh Kim has returned more than 138 hectares of protective forest land, while Mr. Tranh and Ms. Nhan have not yet agreed to return the land. The land recovery work for Mr. Tranh and Ms. Nhan must go through an additional asset inventory stage because these two cases have arisen complaints and requests for compensation for construction costs on the recovered land.
Having nearly 0.8 hectares of land confiscated and being asked to stop all activities, Ms. Nhan refused to return the red book or return the land. Ms. Nhan authorized someone else to participate in resolving the case. The person authorized by Ms. Nhan requested compensation of 9.5 billion VND when the land was confiscated. Similarly, Mr. Tranh also refused to return the red book and return more than 10 hectares of land when Vinh Thanh district issued an "order" to confiscate. On the contrary, Mr. Tranh demanded compensation of 168.7 billion VND.
Regarding the compensation proposal, Mr. To Hieu Trung - Chairman of Vinh Thanh District People's Committee - said: "Compensation work must be carried out in accordance with regulations, it is necessary to determine the value of the compensated assets. In case of disagreement, an independent auditing unit must be hired to determine the assets and resolve the matter according to regulations".
Not stopping at demanding compensation, Mr. Tranh also brought this case to court twice, asking the first instance and high court in Da Nang to judge, when Vinh Thanh district issued a decision to reclaim the land. However, both courts ruled that the district's land reclamation was in accordance with regulations.
"Whoever provides it must compensate"
According to Lao Dong Newspaper, the Standing Committee of Vinh Thanh District Party Committee has met to discuss and give opinions on the case of Ms. Nhan and Mr. Tranh "demanding" the district to compensate nearly 180 billion VND when reclaiming land. Accordingly, Vinh Thanh District has requested the District Police to intervene and join hands with the authorities to thoroughly handle the case.
Mr. To Hieu Trung affirmed that the locality will be determined to handle the case according to the direction of the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People's Committee as soon as possible. "The previous generation made mistakes, so the next generation must be united to resolve it once and for all" - Mr. To Hieu Trung said.
It was inevitable that Vinh Thanh district illegally granted land to the family of a former district leader, and then proceeded to reclaim the land after discovering the violation. However, the question is how to resolve the issue in accordance with regulations?
Regarding this issue, Mr. To Hieu Trung explained: "At the time of land allocation, the former district leaders could not determine whether the land allocation for the above two cases was correct or incorrect. Only after the inspection was the violation discovered and the land was recovered. At this time, the land users had invested in building works on the recovered land. Therefore, in cases where the State allocated land in violation of regulations, but the land users built projects according to approved planning and had construction permits, the State will have to inspect and calculate the value of the assets for compensation, but construction outside the planning will not be compensated. The compensation costs must be paid by the individual who allocated the land incorrectly, and cannot use the State budget."
A leader of Vinh Thanh District Party Committee said that using the district budget for compensation is against regulations, because the budget is the people's money.
Prosecuted and disciplined for land violations
To be allocated protective forest land, Mr. Kim wrote his own application, forged signatures, and helped prepare land allocation documents for three households and a relative.
After the incident was exposed, Mr. Kim was prosecuted for investigation of the crime of Abusing position and power to influence others for personal gain.
According to the reporter's investigation, the person who signed the decision to lease land to Ms. Nhan and Mr. Tranh for the project was Mr. Le Van Dau - former Chairman of the District People's Committee. The decisions were signed in 2014 and 2015, at that time Mr. Dau was Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee.
For the above violation, Mr. Dau was disciplined by being dismissed from the position of Standing Committee Member of the District Party Committee, term 2010-2015.
