Ho chi minh city

A free rice dispensing machine for poor people and those out of work is installed at a kindergarten in district 12’s Thanh Loc ward, which is under lockdown. (Photo laodong.vn)

HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is set to offer a second financial relief package for businesses and workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to its Department of Labour , Invalids and Social Affairs.

Tourism, transport and small and medium-sized businesses, teachers, laid-off workers, and informal sector workers will be beneficiaries of payments that will be made between this month and December.

Le Minh Tan, director of the department, said it was working with authorities in the city’s 21 districts and Thu Duc city to compile a list of affected businesses and laid-off and informal sector workers who are eligible to receive the payments.

The department proposes to pay workers who were laid off for at least a month due to the pandemic monthly relief payments of 1.8 million VND (78 USD), Tan said.

The department allocated 611 billion VND (26.5 million USD) and 181 billion VND (7.85 million USD) for businesses and informal sector workers in the first relief package last year.

More than 20,500 lottery ticket sellers received more than 20 billion VND (869,400 USD).

Free food, essential goods

More than 600 workers placed under quarantine at the VINA Kitchen Ware JSC at the Tan Binh Industrial Park in HCM City on June 1 received essential goods and food for free from the Trade Union of the industrial parks and export processing zones.

They are quarantined after coming into close contact with COVID-19 patients.

Huynh Van Tuan, Chairman of the Trade Union, said the workers got minimum wages and other support in quarantine.

Infected workers would get financial assistance of up to 3 million VND (130 USD) and others would get 1.5 million VND (65 USD), he said.

A free rice dispensing machine for poor people and those out of work has been installed at a kindergarten in district 12’s Thanh Loc ward, which is under lockdown.

Disadvantaged people could get free rice and essential goods from a store set up next to the machine, Nguyen Duc Vinh, Secretary of the Thanh Loc Ward Youth Union, said.

Some three to four tonnes of vegetables transported from Lam Dong province are delivered to people quarantined in the Thanh Loc ward every three or four days./.

Former Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Tai (centre) at a hearing in March (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on June 17 announced that the second hearing for the case of law violation involving the land lot at 57 Cao Thang street being exchanged for the land lot at 185 Hai Ba Trung street in the city will take place from July 13-19.

The hearing, which was scheduled for May 26 to June 2, was delayed to June 22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, social distancing measures are being applied in HCM City until the end of June, forcing the trial to be suspended again.

In this case, Duong Thi Bach Diep, Director of the Diep Bach Duong Real Estate Co., is among the key defendants in the trial, and is charged with “fraud, appropriation of assets”.

Nine other defendants in the case are charged with “lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences,” including former Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Tai; former Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Finance Tran Nam Trang; former Director of the HCM City Light Music Centre Vy Nhat Tao; former Director of the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thanh Rum; former Deputy Director of the department Le Ton Thanh; former deputy heads of the municipal People’s Committee Office Huynh Kim Phat and Le Van Thanh; former Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment Dao Anh Kiet; and former Deputy Director of the department Nguyen Thanh Nhan.

According to the indictment, the 185 Hai Ba Trung land lot, owned by the State, was the headquarters of the Light Music Centre under the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In 2007, the centre’s then director Vy Nhat Tao contacted Diep to cooperate in upgrading the headquarters.

Diep then proposed exchanging her land lot at 57 Cao Thang street for the 185 Hai Ba Trung land lot, as she owned the land lot at 179 Hai Ba Trung street and wanted to build a five-star hotel complex there.

The property swap was approved by Nguyen Thanh Tai. During the process, Diep used the land use right certificate for 57 Cao Thang as collateral to borrow money from Agribank – HCM City branch.

After being granted a land right use certificate for the property at 185 Hai Ba Trung, however, Diep did not use it to replace the collateral at Agribank to hand over the property at 57 Cao Thang to the Light Music Centre as committed. Instead, Diep used the 185 Hai Ba Trung land lot as collateral for a loan at Southern Bank (now Sacombank) and so far was not able to repay the debt.

The indictment stated that Tai permitted the property swap while he was not responsible for handling and reorganising State assets.

On March 5, 2010, Tai signed a document sent to relevant units approving the exchange of the two land lots, without any request to check and clarify the legal status of the 57 Cao Thang land lot, causing losses of State assets .

The other defendants showed a lack of responsibility in carrying out their duty, thus facilitating Diep’s fraud and appropriation of assets.

The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on March 26 decided to return dossiers of the case for further investigations as new evidence and details were found./.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, who is also head of the steering committee.

The standing board agreed on specific instructions to create favourable conditions for local authorities and businesses to access and purchase vaccines and quickly transport them to Vietnam.

The Health Ministry will work with authorized suppliers and Ho Chi Minh City’s administration on the city’s needs for vaccines.

Localities and businesses must be cautious when seeking vaccines to avoid the case when the manufacturer commits to selling them but deliver in 2022, not in this year.

The standing board urged the Health Ministry to early issue a document on extending the groups prioritized to receive vaccination, while preparing for launching the free-of-charge expanded vaccination drive and on-demand paid vaccination service after completing inoculation for priority groups.

Participants agreed to create the best possible conditions for the trial of homegrown vaccine. If the trial goes well, in the context of vaccine scarcity the Ministry of Health will submit to competent agencies for approval for use homegrown vaccines in emergency circumstances.

The Ministry of Health will coordinate with ministries and sectors to submit to the Government a proposal on accessing all vaccine supply sources in the world towards the goal of achieving herd immunity by the end of 2021, and create mechanisms to facilitate investors’ investment in the production of vaccines in the country to serve not only domestic use but also export.

The health ministry reported that in the coming time, along with Pfizer vaccine already bought, Vietnam is expected to receive a number of vaccines that have been approved for emergency circulation by the World Health Organisation.

Source: VNA