HCMC – Investigators of Khanh Hoa Province today, May 20, detained Dao Cong Thien, former vice chairman of the provincial government, for alleged land mismanagement in Nha Trang City.
The investigators pressed the same charges against Vo Tan Thai, former director of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment. They also searched their homes and workplaces on the same day, reported Thanh Nien newspaper.
The two suspects are allegedly involved in a case in which regulations on land management had been violated at a land lot at No.1 Tran Hung Dao Street in Nha Trang City, where the province’s old Political School was located.
On June 30, 2015, the provincial government appointed and granted an investment certificate to Thanh Yen JSC to execute the provincial Political School project under the build-transfer format on the land lot measuring over 7,400 square meters.
In June 2016, the provincial government provided the company with a residential land lot of 4,440 square meters and a land lot for non-agricultural production and business of nearly 2,950 square meters, with a lease term of 50 years for the firm to build the Nha Trang Center 2 shopping mall and apartment project, which was later renamed the Gold Coast project.
After signing the investment certificate, the provincial government on July 21, 2016 issued a decision approving land prices in the area to develop the Gold Coast project. Specifically, one square meter of residential land was priced at nearly VND22.5 million and that of non-agricultural production and business land was quoted at over VND7.8 million, while the land prices in neighboring areas were higher by tens of times.
Accordingly, Thanh Yen Company had to pay some VND123 billion to use nearly 7,400 square meters of land. This amount of money was used to develop the Political School in the city’s Phuoc Dong Commune under the build-transfer format.
The school project was moved from the city center to the outskirts, giving way to the 1,000-apartment building.
