Building temporary houses to look after dozens of tons of rare earth in a case

On the morning of October 30, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on piloting the handling of evidence and assets during the investigation, prosecution and trial of a number of criminal cases.

Commenting on the resolution, delegate, Lieutenant General Nguyen Hai Trung, Director of Hanoi City Police, said that the issuance of the Resolution is very necessary.

According to Lieutenant General Nguyen Hai Trung, in reality, Hanoi City Police are having to manage and process a huge amount of evidence every day and every hour, some of which has been around for many years, causing waste.

"The first waste is wasting the value of the property itself. There are properties that have been left for too long and have lost their value. Now the vehicle owner doesn't care about them and considers them as discarded. Meanwhile, they can't be liquidated or destroyed, so they have to keep them forever. This is very wasteful," said Mr. Trung.

The second waste is having an evidence warehouse. According to Mr. Trung, currently the City Police must have a common evidence warehouse, and districts must have evidence warehouses of district-level investigation agencies. But where can inner-city districts get land to build evidence warehouses according to standards?

Furthermore, in the judicial reform program, the city must have a warehouse for both criminal and civil evidence, but there is no warehouse or there is a warehouse but it does not meet the area and standards.

The third waste is having to arrange for someone to look after the evidence warehouse. According to regulations, the police are in charge of management and custody, while the court is responsible for handling the assets.

Citing a practical example, Mr. Trung said: "Recently, we received dozens of tons of rare earth in a case and had to build a temporary house to store it. Even though it was a temporary house, we still had to ensure quality and avoid loss. Meanwhile, it took more than 1-2 people to look after it. If compared with the latest regulations, this is a very complicated, inconvenient, difficult, and frustrating problem."

From the above analysis, Director of Hanoi City Police Nguyen Hai Trung affirmed that the issuance of the National Assembly Resolution on piloting the handling of evidence and assets during the investigation, prosecution and trial of a number of criminal cases is very necessary.

However, according to the submission and draft Resolution, Mr. Trung said that the scope of the Resolution is too narrow, only applying to a number of cases of the Central Steering Committee on corruption, so it does not represent all cases to draw general conclusions.

According to him, after piloting the Resolution, it is necessary to calculate and expand the scope of regulation, and even issue a law.

"Moreover, the three-year pilot period is too long. If it is considered a bottleneck, it must be urgently resolved and removed in accordance with the direction of General Secretary To Lam and the National Assembly," Mr. Trung emphasized.

Regretfully looking at the piled up, damaged machinery and vehicles violating the law

Sharing the same view, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi delegation) pointed out the reality that not long ago, the director of a hospital was arrested, and related machinery and equipment were almost frozen while the daily demand was very high.

"This incident has caused a stir in society. Seeing the amount of machinery and equipment lying idle is truly regrettable," said delegate Tri.

Mr. Tri also shared that he had witnessed many large wood yards that were evidence in criminal cases rotting, traffic violation vehicles being confiscated, and many people not coming to get their vehicles, leaving a great burden on society.

From that, delegate Anh Tri said that the issuance of a Resolution on handling evidence and assets during the investigation, prosecution and trial of a number of criminal cases is urgent. The provisions set out in the Resolution are very comprehensive, but the problem is how to organize and implement them well.

"I hope that after 3 years, or maybe sooner, this pilot resolution can become law for implementation," said Mr. Tri.

Sharing the view that it is necessary to soon issue a Resolution on piloting the handling of evidence and assets during the investigation, prosecution and trial of a number of criminal cases, delegate Nguyen Huu Chinh (Hanoi delegation) said that the current regulations are extremely inadequate, causing disadvantages for defendants and victims.

According to regulations, when initiating a case, the investigating agency has the right to freeze and seize assets. However, the final agency to handle these assets is the court, so the time is very long, usually lasting 1-2 years, causing damage to evidence...

Regarding the subject of application of the Resolution, agreeing with Lieutenant General Hai Trung, delegate Nguyen Huu Chinh said that if the pilot is only in corruption cases, it is not complete and comprehensive and should not be limited to corruption crimes but should be in all cases, especially in the chapter on property crimes.