SGGPO 11/23/2023 9:50 PM

On the afternoon of November 23, the People's Court of Dong Nai province annulled the first instance judgment and returned the case file for further investigation into the case of converting public land into private land in Long Thanh district.

Accordingly, the two plots of land of nearly 2.5 hectares on map sheet No. 20 (Binh Son commune) are not under state management, so the investigation agency needs to clarify who manages this land area and whether it is public or private land. If it is public land, it is necessary to investigate the responsibility of the individuals and organizations that violated the law.

According to the panel of judges, the evidence collected in the case has not been fully assessed and the investigation agency has not clarified whether there was collusion or not to falsify documents to obtain land use right certificates.

Therefore, the People's Court of Dong Nai province decided to annul the entire first instance judgment, return the case file to the People's Procuracy of Dong Nai province for re-investigation, requesting clarification of the status of the victim and the participants in the proceedings.

At the trial, the defendants all pleaded innocent and asked the panel of judges to question and clarify the appraisal of the land's origin.

According to the indictment, in early April 2019, the People's Committee of Long Thanh district inspected and verified the issuance of land use right certificates in Binh Son commune for a land plot of more than 0.7 hectares for Ms. Le Thi Tho and a land plot of nearly 1.8 hectares for Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan (residing in Long Thanh district).

The verification results determined that the People's Committee of Binh Son Commune, the Long Thanh Branch of the Land Registration Office, and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Long Thanh District had advised and proposed the People's Committee of Long Thanh District to issue the first certificate in May 2017 for two plots of land (totaling 2.5 hectares) to Ms. Tho and Loan, which was not in accordance with the law because this is public land managed by the state.

After that, Ms. Tho and Loan transferred the above land plot to 2 other people for 12.5 billion VND and were granted a land use right certificate by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The violations in the above-mentioned "carving up" of public land caused the state to lose the right to manage and use the above two plots of land with a total value of more than 18.1 billion VND.

Previously, on June 2023, Long Thanh District People's Court identified 7 defendants in the case of "carving up" public land into private land, causing a loss of nearly 20 billion VND to the state, and sentenced the defendants for the crime of "Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences". Specifically, Nguyen Van Be (former cadastral officer of Binh Son commune, Long Thanh district) was sentenced to 4 years in prison; Tran Quoc Tuan (former Chairman of Binh Son commune People's Committee) was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison; Nguyen Quang Thao (former official of the statistical registration team, Provincial Land Registration Office, Long Thanh district branch) was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Defendant Le Quoc Dat (former Deputy Director of the Land Registration Office of Dong Nai Province, Long Thanh District Branch) was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison; Bui Van Hong (former official of the surveying team, Land Registration Office of the Province, Long Thanh District Branch) to 2 years and 6 months in prison; Duong Thi Duyen (former specialist of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Long Thanh District) to 2 years in prison but given a suspended sentence with a probationary period of 4 years; Nguyen Hoang Nghia (40 years old, former Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Long Thanh District) to 2 years of non-custodial reform.