HCMC – Nguyen Thi Loan, board chairwoman of Vimedimex Medi-Pharma JSC, has been prosecuted on January 17 for illegally lowering the value of a 50,000-square-meter land plot in the land auction, according to the local media.

The Hanoi People’s Procuracy pressed charges against Loan over her alleged violations of land auction regulations in line with Clause 2, Article 218 of the Penal Code, with a penalty ranging from a fine of up to VND1 billion to a prison term of 1-5 years.

The Hanoi People’s Procuracy also prosecuted eight other people, including Nguyen Quang Hung, deputy general director of Vimedimex; Ta Thi Van, general director of Bac Tu Liem Real Estate JSC; Nguyen Xuan Duc, deputy general director of My Dinh Real Estate JSC; Tran Cong Tuyen and Vuong Thi Thu Thuy, head and officer of the district’s Project Management Board; Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh, general director of the Hanoi Valuation and Investment JSC; and her two subordinates.

According to the indictment, the Dong Anh District Project Management Board in August 2020 held an auction for a plot of land covering nearly five hectares in the district’s Co Duong Commune, worth an estimated cost of VND500 billion.

Loan colluded with officials of the Dong Anh District Project Management Board and those of the valuation and investment firm to adjust down the land value to around VND334 billion, or the floor price of VND18 million per square meter.

The chairwoman established many companies to join the auction. One of her firms won the auction with a bid of over VND20 million per square meter. One month after the handover of the land plot, Loan sold the land plot from VND80 million to VND100 million per square meter.