The Government Inspectorate has submitted at least eight land and housing transfer files involving jailed property tycoon Phan Van Anh Vu, 44, alias Vu Nhom, and his relatives to the Ministry of Public Security for further investigation.

The house at 100 Bach Dang Street in the central coastal city of Danang allegedly involves the jailed property magnate Vu Nhom

The inspectorate recently released its inspection results on the transfers of public houses and land in prime locations in the central coastal city of Danang, reported Thanh Nien Online newspaper.

According to the results, the municipal government was found to have committed various violations in the transfer of public homes and land in the 2010-2016 period.

The inspectorate has already sent a total of 10 applications related to public homes and land to the ministry since these properties were put up for lease or sale without going through competitive bidding and received price reductions in violation of prevailing regulations, causing losses for the State.

Of the figure, eight properties were closely related to Vu, who was accused of having abused his power to acquire public houses and land in Danang and HCMC.

The properties are situated on the streets of Le Duan, Bach Dang, Nguyen Thai Hoc and Phan Chau Trinh, among others, in the downtown area.

Some of these properties were transferred to Bac Nam 79 Construction JSC, where Vu serves as chairman; Nhat Gia Phuc Investment JSC, where he holds half the charter capital; and Minh Hung Phat Company, where he contributes 80% of the charter capital.

His brother-in-law Ngo Ang Hung and his older sister Phan Thi Anh Dai were also involved in the transfers.

During the inspection, the inspectorate checked 52 properties whose transfers were approved by the city government between 2010 and 2016.

It found that the prices of land use right transfers for many properties were far lower than normal.

For example, the properties at 34 Bach Dang Street, with a total area of over 1,400 square meters, were sold at VND18.3 million per square meter (US$788 at the current rate exchange), whereas similar properties at 5 Tran Phu Street cost VND51.3 million (US$2,208) per square meter.

The inspectorate has proposed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc instruct the competent agencies to handle economic violations causing losses of nearly VND140 billion (US$6 million). The figure includes VND63.8 billion resulting from 10% discounts, VND31.2 billion from groundless price reductions and more than VND22 billion in supporting interest rates in violation of prevailing regulations.

In the latest case involving two former deputy ministers of public security, Vu was sentenced to 15 years in prison for abuse of power. He was also given a 17-year sentence for abusing his power to appropriate VND203 billion from HCMC-based DongA Commercial Bank, for which he has appealed the verdict. He received a sentence of eight years’ imprisonment for deliberately divulging State secrets.

SGT