Former Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung 'had profit motive' when planting trees

The investigation agency organized a confrontation to clarify the case of former Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung receiving "holiday gifts" of 2.6 billion VND and 1.4 billion VND for tree planting under the name of sponsorship.

On June 12, Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung was again proposed for prosecution by the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency for the second time for the crime of "Abusing power and position while performing official duties." Mr. Chung was first proposed for prosecution on March 26, but the Supreme People's Procuracy later returned the case file, requesting further investigation and clarification of Mr. Chung's motives for profit when implementing the tree planting project.

14 other people were proposed to be prosecuted for four crimes: Smuggling ; Violating regulations on management and use of state assets causing waste and loss ; Illegal printing, issuance, and trading of invoices and documents for payment to the state budget ; Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences .

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

According to the additional investigation, the planting, replacement and addition of trees in Hanoi has been carried out for many years. Since 2016, Mr. Chung requested to suspend bidding in districts and reduce the focal point to the Department of Construction for implementation. At subsequent meetings, Mr. Chung directed, imposed and forced his subordinates to apply the form of ordering from the Green Ecology Company, while bidding was possible.

The Green Ecological Company was newly established in 2016, and did not have the capacity to place orders, but had a close relationship with Mr. Chung. The director of this company is Bui Van Manh, a debt evader in Lam Dong , who was called by Mr. Chung to go to Hanoi to plant trees, the investigation agency stated.

Under Mr. Chung's instructions, from 2016 to 2019, the Urban Technical Works Maintenance Board under the Department of Construction did not organize bidding but signed a direct order contract with Hanoi Green Parks and Trees Company Limited (Green Trees Company) and Green Ecology Company.

The Maintenance Board placed 10 contracts worth more than VND241 billion with the Green Tree Company; and 6 contracts worth more than VND43 billion with the Green Ecology Company. During the contract implementation, a group of Maintenance Board officials and the heads of these two companies colluded to inflate prices, causing a loss of more than VND34 billion to the state.

The investigation agency said that it had organized a confrontation between Mr. Chung, the defendant Man and the Director of the Department of Construction. From here, the supplementary investigation conclusion did not change the content compared to the previous version.

Acacia trees are planted by Green Eco Company along Thang Long Avenue. Photo: Ngoc Thanh

According to the conclusion, after receiving orders from Hanoi, Hanoi Green Tree Company colluded to inflate the price of green trees to gain a profit of 17 billion VND. Vu Kien Trung, Chairman of Green Tree Company, stated that on holidays from 2016 to 2018, he repeatedly gave Mr. Chung 2.6 billion VND to thank him for creating favorable conditions and directing Hanoi departments to place orders with the company.

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

However, Mr. Chung denied the above statements, saying that he did not receive any money from Trung. He and several others had also paid in full for Man planting trees at the above locations.

C03 assessed that when he was Chairman of Hanoi City, Mr. Chung did not ensure fairness and integrity, because of personal motives, he directed his subordinates to do wrong things. In order to conceal his criminal acts, he "issued one document but gave another verbal instruction".

Mr. Chung, 56 years old, is a doctor of law, trained as a criminal police officer. He was formerly a major general, Director of Hanoi Police. He was arrested on August 28, 2020 when he was Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee.

This is the fourth case in which Mr. Chung has been tried. The former chairman of Hanoi is serving a total of 12 years in prison for three cases: appropriating confidential documents related to the Nhat Cuong case, purchasing Redoxy-3C , and interfering in bidding at the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment.

Vnexpress.net