Former chairman Nguyen Duc Chung 'had ulterior motives' when planting trees.

Investigators are holding a confrontation to clarify whether former Hanoi People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung received 2.6 billion VND in "holiday gifts" and 1.4 billion VND for tree planting under the guise of sponsorship.

On June 12th, the Police Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security upheld its stance for the second time, recommending the prosecution of Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung for the crime of abusing his position and power while performing his official duties. Mr. Chung was first recommended for prosecution on March 26th, but the Supreme People's Procuracy subsequently returned the case file, requesting further investigation and clarification of Mr. Chung's motives for personal gain in the tree planting project.

Fourteen other individuals have been recommended for prosecution on four charges: Smuggling ; Violating regulations on the management and use of state assets causing losses and waste ; Illegally printing, issuing, and trading invoices and documents for collecting state budget revenue ; and Negligence causing serious consequences .

Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung at a court hearing in Hanoi. Photo: Pham Du

According to the supplementary investigation findings, the planting, replacement, and addition of trees in Hanoi have been carried out for many years. Since 2016, Mr. Chung requested a temporary halt to bidding processes in districts and counties, and consolidated the responsibility under the Department of Construction. In subsequent meetings, Mr. Chung directed and imposed orders on subordinates to use the Green Ecology Company instead of a bidding process.

The Green Ecology Company, newly established in 2016, lacked the capacity to secure orders but had close ties to Mr. Chung. The company's director, Bui Van Manh, a debt evader in Lam Dong , was summoned by Mr. Chung to come to Hanoi to work on the tree planting project, according to the investigation.

Following Mr. Chung's directives, from 2016 to 2019, the Urban Engineering Works Maintenance Board under the Department of Construction did not organize bidding but instead signed direct contracts with Hanoi Green Park Company Limited (Green Park Company) and Green Ecology Company.

The Maintenance Board placed 10 contracts worth over 241 billion VND with the Greenery Company and 6 contracts worth over 43 billion VND with the Green Ecology Company. During the contract execution process, a group of officials from the Maintenance Board and the heads of these two companies colluded to inflate prices, causing losses to the state of over 34 billion VND.

The investigating agency stated that they had organized a confrontation between Mr. Chung, the defendant Man, and the Director of the Department of Construction. Based on this, the supplementary investigation report remains unchanged from the previous version.

Acacia trees were planted along Thang Long Boulevard by Green Ecology Company. Photo: Ngoc Thanh

According to the conclusion, after receiving an order from Hanoi, the Hanoi Greenery Company colluded to inflate the price of trees to profit 17 billion VND. Vu Kien Trung, Chairman of the Hanoi Greenery Company, confessed that during holidays from 2016 to 2018, he repeatedly gave Mr. Chung 2.6 billion VND as a thank you for facilitating and directing Hanoi's departments to place orders with the company.

Besides Trung, defendant Bui Van Man also confessed to spending 1.2 billion VND on planting trees at Yen Khe Kindergarten (Thanh Ba district, Phu Tho province) for Mr. Chung to personally sponsor, and 140 million VND on planting trees for Mr. Chung's parents' house in Phu Tho; and 240 million VND on planting trees at Mr. Chung's uncle's church in Hai Duong. Man confessed that all the money given to Mr. Chung for planting trees came from inflating the price of the trees.

However, Mr. Chung refuted these statements, claiming he did not receive any money from Trung. He also stated that he and several others had fully paid for Man's tree planting at the aforementioned locations.

C03 assessed that Mr. Chung, while serving as Chairman of Hanoi City, failed to ensure fairness and integrity, and, driven by personal motives, directed subordinates to commit wrongdoing. To conceal his criminal acts, he "issued one document but gave a verbal instruction that contradicted his own."

Mr. Chung, 56, holds a doctorate in law and rose through the ranks of the criminal police. He was formerly a Major General and Director of the Hanoi Police Department. He was arrested on August 28, 2020, while serving as Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee.

This is the fourth case in which Mr. Chung has been prosecuted. The former Hanoi chairman is currently serving a total of 12 years in prison across three cases: misappropriation of confidential documents related to the Nhat Cuong case, procurement of Redoxy-3C , and interference in bidding at the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment.

Vnexpress.net