HCM City (VNA) – A prison sentenceof 7 – 8 years has been proposed for Nguyen Huu Tin, former Vice Chairman ofthe Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, for his wrongdoings in the managementand use of state assets.

The municipal People’s Procuracy proposedsentences for Tin and four accomplices on December 27 as part of thefirst-instance trial of the defendants, who were accused of violatingregulations on the management and use of state assets, causing losses andwastefulness.

Aside from Tin, a jail term of 7 – 8 years wasalso proposed for Dao Anh Kiet, former Director of the HCM City Department ofNatural Resources and Environment.

The procuracy suggested prison sentences of 5 –6 years for Le Van Thanh, former Deputy Chief of the Office of the municipalPeople’s Committee, and Truong Van Ut, former deputy head of the landmanagement division at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thanh Chuong, former head ofthe urban division at the Office of the municipal People’s Committee, wasproposed to serve 4 – 5 years behind bars.

The procuracy said as cadres and leaders ofagencies, the defendants had a good grasp of the regulations on land and Stateasset management, but they defied legal regulations and caused great losses.Therefore, they must be strictly handled to help consolidate the people’s trustin the Party and State, and show that there are no “off-limits” zones in crime punishment.

It noted Tin and the other defendants helped thenow-jailed Phan Van Anh Vu (also known as “Vu Nhom”, Chairman of the DaNang-based Bac Nam 79 Construction JSC and the Nova Bac Nam 79 JSC), to acquiremany State-owned buildings and land lots in prime locations in HCM City at lowprices, causing great damage to the State.

The State suffered a loss of over 6.7 billionVND (289,370 USD at the current exchange rate) due to the illegal support forthe Bac Nam 79 company and over 802 billion VND worth of land use fee for theland lot at 15 Thi Sach street in HCM City.

When receiving the proposal to permit the BacNam 79 company to directly sign a contract for leasing the land at 15 Thi Sachstreet, Tin did not report it to the chairperson of the municipal People’sCommittee at that time but assign the Department of Natural Resources andEnvironment to give instructions for making procedures.

After that, the four others advised Tin to issueillegal decisions on land lease, house sale and tax deductions.

The procuracy said Dao Anh Kiet was clearlyaware that the land and buildings at 15 Thi Sach street were public assets, buthe still signed many documents proposing the illegal decisions. Additionally,his refusal of his wrongdoings showed that he did not realise his role andresponsibility as the leader of the Department of Natural Resources andEnvironment. Therefore, Kiet must bear responsibility at the similar level withTin’s.

The trial is scheduled to end on December 30./.