Vice chairman of the Tra Vinh City People’ Committee Tran Truong Son is arrested on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

Wednesday’s arrests meant that the number of people taken into custody for their alleged involvement in the case has risen to 11.

Diep Van Thanh, 51, former chairman of the Tra Vinh City People’ Committee, and vice chairman Tran Truong Son, 43, would be detained for four months for further investigation. They were accused of breaches in managing State assets causing losses and wastefulness, according to the municipal police.

The fraud only came to light when the Party’s Central Inspection Commission last year scrutinised the amount of tax exempted for hundreds of households in Tra Vinh who applied to switch their land use purpose from farming to housing.

According to the law, poor households and families acknowledged of war merits are subject to a complete tax waiver when changing their land use purpose.

The inspection, however, exposed that many applicants were not the true owners of their land. It turned out that some land brokers took advantage of the policy to borrow the names of those subject to tax exemption. Each was paid between VND5 million and VND10 million for a land lot registered under their names.

The land brokers then submitted the fraudulent documents to land officials for approval.

The tax loss was estimated at around VND120 billion.

Police in June and July this year arrested four brokers and five former officials of the city’s Division of Natural Resources and Environment.

Investigation into the case is ongoing.

VNS