Nguyễn Chiến Thắng, former chairman of Khánh Hòa Province's People's Committee. — Photo vietnamplus.vn

KHÁNH HÒA — Seven former officials of south-central Khánh Hòa Province have been prosecuted for violating land management regulations under Clause 3 of Article 229 in the 2015 Penal Code.

They are Nguyễn Chiến Thắng and Lê Đức Vinh, former chairmen of the provincial People’s Committee; Đào Công Thiên, former vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee; Lê Mộng Điệp and Võ Tấn Thái, former directors of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Lê Văn Dẽ, former director of the Department of Construction; and Trần Văn Hùng, former head of the land management division at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

From 2012 to 2015, the suspects, who were then leaders of the provincial People’s Committee and various departments, illegally handed over land, changed land use purposes, and granted land use right certificates in connection with the Cửu Long Sơn Tử ecological tourism project and the Vinh Trung villa project in Nha Trang City, according to the indictment.

Khánh Hòa police started a criminal investigation on June 8, 2021, and later started legal proceedings while detaining the former officials. —VNS