Former top HCMC official jailed over state property mismanagement

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court found Tran Vinh Tuyen, 56, guilty of “violations in the management and use of state-owned property that led to losses or wastefulness.”

According to the indictment, Tuyen had committed ‘serious violations’ in approving the transfer of a 37,000-square-meter property in District 9 developed by the wholly-state-owned Sagri company to a private firm without competitive bidding that caused losses of VND348 billion ($15.14 million) to the city.

The court ruled Tuyen should have known that the transfer must be carried out in accordance with the law on management of state capital in enterprises.

Before transferring the property project to the private firm, Sagri must have had a plan to divest its capital, appraise the market price and conduct a bidding process.

Related to the case, Tran Trong Tuan, former director of the municipal Department of Construction, was also sentenced to six years on the same charge.

Le Tan Hung, former CEO of Sagri, was sentenced to 25 years in jail for “violating regulations on management and use of state assets,” and “property embezzlement.”

Hung, who was arrested in 2019, was found to be the mastermind in the Sagri case and had illegally signed expenses for more than VND13 billion for Sagri employee study trips abroad.

Sixteen other accomplices were given various jail terms from three-year suspended sentences to 20 years.

Tuyen became deputy chairman of the municipal People’s Committee in April 2016. Previously, he was chairman of District 1 People’s Committee, party secretary of District 1, chief of office of HCMC Party Committee, as well as its head of inspection.