Recovering the wrongly spent money is difficult because people have spent it all
In 2015, the component project of site clearance (GPMB) and resettlement under the National Highway 1 expansion project through Binh Dinh province was completed. The project is invested by the Binh Dinh Provincial Traffic Project Management Board. The implementing unit is the investor and the People's Committees of localities such as An Nhon, Tuy Phuoc, Phu My, Phu Cat, Hoai Nhon.
After the project was completed, the authorities of Binh Dinh province discovered errors in the project settlement stage, incorrectly spending more than 57 billion VND in compensation and site clearance for households affected by the project.
The Department of Finance of Binh Dinh province has submitted a document requesting the Provincial People's Committee to request the investor and related localities to recover the amount of money spent incorrectly. Binh Dinh province has recovered more than 51 billion VND, but there is still more than 5.3 billion VND under the responsibility of Phu My district. Up to now, this locality has not yet refunded the amount to the State budget.
Talking to Lao Dong, Mr. Phan Huu Duy - Permanent Vice Chairman of Phu My District People's Committee said that the incorrect spending of more than 5.3 billion VND occurred many years ago. The main responsibility belongs to the officers directly responsible for compensation for site clearance for the National Highway 1 expansion project.
In 2018, the district issued 172 decisions to recover more than 5.3 billion VND for incorrect land compensation, but it has not been recovered yet. Of which, My Chau commune has 130 households, the amount to be recovered is more than 3.3 billion VND; Binh Duong town has 18 cases with an amount of more than 1.4 billion VND; Phu My town has 34 households with an amount of more than 471 million VND; My Phong commune has 2 cases with an amount of more than 64 million VND.
"Every year, the district establishes a working group, coordinating with the People's Committees of relevant communes and towns to encourage people to return the wrongly spent money, but people refuse to pay because they say they have spent all the compensation," said Mr. Duy.
7 years, $1 million of wrongly spent" has not been recovered
According to Mr. Phan Huu Duy, if people absolutely refuse to return the money, officials who do wrong are responsible for compensation and payment to the State budget. This is the State budget, if it is not paid, the officer may be prosecuted.
"Every year, the Provincial People's Committee requires the district to collect and return the amount of money spent incorrectly. From 2018 to now, the locality has implemented many plans but people refuse to pay. Now the district will follow the instructions from the province, because it is really out of options.
In the end, the officer had to compensate and return the amount of money that had been spent incorrectly. However, this amount is not small, if the salary of the staff is used to pay, the family's life will be very difficult," said Mr. Duy.
Mr. Phan Huu Duy also said that in the past 7 years, officials have repeatedly visited people's houses to mobilize, even begging, but all of them were ineffective. Up to now, the district has not yet collected "2 VND" out of more than 5.3 billion VND that was spent incorrectly.
"We cannot use budget money to return the amount of money that has been spent incorrectly, so it is mandatory to recover it from the people. If it cannot be recovered, there must be another plan, it cannot be touched on the budget", Mr. Duy emphasized.
Regarding this issue, Mr. Lam Hai Giang - Vice Chairman of Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee affirmed that compensation for violations of the law must be recovered and paid to the State budget.
"It is impossible to say that compensation has been spent, so now it cannot be collected. Saying so is not in accordance with the law. If households have assets and income but do not voluntarily pay, there must be strong solutions to ensure social justice," said Mr. Lam Hai Giang.
