A residential area has been developed on farming land that was illegally used for rural housing land in Phan Thiết from 2016 to 2018. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Thanh

BÌNH THUẬN — Police in central province of Bình Thuận on Tuesday began a criminal investigation into land management in Phan Thiết City after nearly 177sq.m of farming land was illegally transferred into housing land between early 2016 and September 2018.

The move followed an inspection conducted by the province’s Inspectorate Department in three communes – Tiến Lợi, Thiện Nghiệp and Phong Nẫm.

According to the inspection, from early 2016 to September, 2018, Phan Thiết City People’s Committee allowed 139 land plots with area of nearly 177sq.m in the three communes to be transferred from farming land to rural housing land.

The move violated the province’s land use planning and regulations on land management.

According to inspectors, Phan Thiết City People’s Committee intentionally violated regulations when it identified land plots and changed the use of the land plots and their value, causing losses to the State budget.

The province’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment was said to not have properly supervised the land use purpose transfer, so the department failed to detect the violations.

Moreover, households and individuals made use of the violations and sold the land and paid less land use fees than they should have, which caused losses to State’s budget.

The province’s Inspectorate Department concluded the violations involved the province’s natural resources and environment department, Phan Thiết City People’s Committee, its land management register division, tax division and people’s committees of the three communes.

Responding to the inspection results, Bình Thuận Province People’s Committee asked its Inspectorate Department to transfer relevant documents to police for criminal investigation. — VNS