Senior Vietnamese police official faces the music for housing project violations

A former senior police official has been given an official warning by Vietnam's Communist Party for violations he committed at a housing project in Hanoi.

Tran Quoc Cuong, deputy chief of Dak Lak Province's Party unit, was found to have allowed a subordinate to appropriate properties at the Ministry of Public Security's Dai Kim housing project during his time as deputy head of the ministry's General Intelligence Department and head of its Department of Politics and Logistics between 2009 and 2012.

Vietnam's Communist Party has four modes of punishment for misconduct by official members: reprimand, warning, demotion and expulsion.

In a statement, the Politburo, the Party's decision-making body, said Cuong had failed to fulfill his duties as head of the Dai Kim housing project's steering committee, resulting in multiple violations.

Cuong also signed a deal with Viet Thai Company allowing it to mobilize private capital for the project, which did not fall within his department's jurisdiction and violated the Housing Law.

The deal enabled Nguyen Vu Hung, Cuong's subordinate and director of Viet Thai, to appropriate properties from prospective homebuyers, causing "very serious consequences," the Politburo said.

Cuong was found to have signed documents allowing the housing fund raised by police officers in his unit to be misused.

The Politburo said Cuong's violations were "serious" and adversely affected the reputation of the Party and the police force.

His violations were discovered following a housing fraud investigation, which found that Hung used illegal documents signed by Cuong to swindle over VND28 billion ($1.2 million) out of 65 prospective homebuyers, according to Cong An Nhan Dan newspaper.

Hung was arrested in December 2016, and is currently under criminal investigation for appropriating property through swindling.