680 illegally built houses at Tan Thinh Residential Area Project (Doi 61 Commune, Trang Bom District). Photo: To Tam |
Lesson 1: Land violations: Sow greed, reap consequences
Timely identification of violations in land-related projects is an important step to prevent violations of the law and tighten land management discipline. In Dong Nai , many "ghost" projects have been exposed, and violators have been strictly punished, demonstrating the determination to clean up the investment environment and prevent the formation of "no-go zones" in handling violations in general and violations related to land in particular.
"Fall into the trap" of fraud from "ghost projects"
The downside of the rapid urbanization process in Dong Nai is the appearance of many violations related to land. Unlicensed houses are secretly built, even hundreds of unlicensed houses "sprout" up. Many "ghost" projects only exist on paper but are "inflated" by real estate companies about their legality, causing many people to "fall into the trap" of fraud. Many victims lost billions, leaving serious consequences both economically and in terms of trust in a healthy business market.
The Tan Thinh Residential Area Project (Doi 61 Commune, Trang Bom District) was once built with great fanfare by LDG Investment Joint Stock Company (LDG Company for short, headquartered in Giang Dien Commune, Trang Bom District), creating a vision of a modern, luxurious urban area that would change the face of the locality. However, after the violations were exposed and handled, now this place is left with only desolation. The concrete blocks are deteriorating day by day. At the main gate to the project, the words: "The first smart urban area in Vietnam" now only remain as old corrugated iron sheets that are tightly covered.
Since the arrest of the LDG Company’s leaders, the project has been suspended until now. Just because of the mistake of implementing the project in a “putting the cart before the horse” style, 7 defendants (including the company’s leaders and related state officials) have been imprisoned.
At the 17th meeting of the Provincial Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption, Wastefulness, and Negativity (PCTNLPTC) in March 2025, it was agreed to include the Provincial Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption, Wastefulness, and Negativity in monitoring and directing the case: "Violating regulations on compensation, support, and resettlement when the State acquires land"; "Giving bribes" and "Receiving bribes" occurring at the Long Thanh International Airport Project. |
On April 28, the Provincial People's Court sentenced the defendants, former leaders of LDG Company and related officials of Trang Bom District, to 12-16 months in prison for the crime of abusing their positions and powers while performing official duties. In addition, the Provincial People's Court sentenced Nguyen Khanh Hung (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of LDG Company) to 16 months in prison and Nguyen Quoc Vy Liem (former Deputy General Director of LDG Company) to 12 months in prison for defrauding customers.
According to the verdict, after the Provincial People's Committee approved the project to build Tan Thinh Residential Area, although it had not yet been approved by the Prime Minister , LDG Company leveled the ground, built roads, and constructed 680 houses and infrastructure works on a total land area of more than 18 hectares. Afterwards, LDG Company's leaders used fraudulent tricks to sign sales contracts with 359 customers to illegally gain more than VND533 billion.
Not only Tan Thinh Residential Area Project, in Dong Nai province, there are many victims who have fallen into the trap of fraud by "ghost" projects, having hundreds of billions of dong appropriated.
In early June 2025, the Provincial People's Procuracy issued an indictment to prosecute 87 defendants related to violations at Loc Phuc Investment and Business Joint Stock Company (abbreviated as Loc Phuc Company, headquartered in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) for fraud and property appropriation. With sophisticated tricks, the defendants defrauded 165 victims, appropriating more than 255 billion VND.
According to the indictment of the Provincial People's Procuracy, during the operation, under the direction of Huynh Huu Tuong (34 years old, residing in Ho Chi Minh City, owner of Loc Phuc Company), the company's employees provided false information and self-printed diagrams of fake residential projects in the districts of Long Thanh, Trang Bom and Thong Nhat (these projects were not approved or granted investment licenses by competent authorities). Tuong and his accomplices used fake project information to deceive customers who came to see the land and paid deposits to reserve or transfer the land, then appropriated the buyers' assets.
"Green light", ignore violations
According to the assessment of the authorities, violations in the land sector are taking place in a complicated manner, not only causing financial losses to individuals and organizations involved, but also affecting people's trust in state agencies, hindering local development. In particular, a number of cases have occurred, leading to many related officials and civil servants falling into prison. The cause of some illegal projects stems from the complicity and lax management of those in charge, creating conditions for businesses to take advantage of and profit from "loopholes" in the law.
Returning to the Tan Thinh Residential Area Project, according to the assessment of the Provincial People's Court, the defendants are local state management officials who, when checking the project's legal documents, discovered that the enterprise did not have enough documents according to regulations. Furthermore, during the project implementation period, the authorities inspected the project 4 times and discovered violations. However, in order to avoid penalties and suspension of construction, these officials did not draw up a record of administrative violations.
Judge Dinh Thi Kieu Luong, who tried the case involving LDG Company, said that the defendants’ actions violated their official duties and assisted LDG Company in occupying land, illegally constructing, and then selling it to people to appropriate property. This action not only caused property damage to people, but also affected the interests of the State in exercising its right to manage land.
Meanwhile, in the Land Acquisition, Compensation, and Resettlement Support Project of Long Thanh International Airport, during the project implementation, many officials also committed violations and many people were caught up in the law. Among them, former Chairman of Long Thanh District People's Committee Le Van Tiep was prosecuted for violating regulations on compensation, support, and resettlement when the State acquired land and 12 other officials were investigated for the following acts: fraud, bribery, violation of regulations on compensation, support, and resettlement when the State acquired land...
According to the investigation of the police agency, in order to implement the Long Thanh Airport Resettlement Area Project, the compensation council had to appraise the documents to approve the cases of land acquisition. Taking advantage of these appraisal stages, the relevant officials deliberately made mistakes to gain benefits, causing losses to the state budget.
Also related to violations in land management, at the end of May 2025, the former Chairman of the People's Committee of Trang Dai Ward (Bien Hoa City) Nguyen Thanh Dan was prosecuted and temporarily detained by the Investigation Police Agency of the Provincial Police to investigate the act of accepting bribes. In connection with this case, 4 urban management officials of Trang Dai Ward were also prosecuted and investigated for the act of accepting bribes.
In the face of these officials’ violations, a reality in Trang Dai Ward in recent years shows that this is a “hot” area for illegal construction. However, instead of implementing a good management solution for the area, these officials, headed by the former Chairman of the Ward People’s Committee, “colluded” with their subordinates and colluded with two “brokers” outside to assist in illegal construction.
To Tam - Tran Danh
Lesson 2: Management loopholes or complicity of corrupt officials?
Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/phap-luat/202506/lap-lai-ky-cuong-trong-quan-ly-dat-dai-bai-1-eca118a/
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