The Ministry of Public Security said Monday that it has launched a criminal investigation against Nhat for "abuse of power or position to appropriate property."

Truong Duy Nhat, 55, allegedly violated regulations relating to state-owned land in Da Nang City, Vietnam's third largest city after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

The same day, police searched his house as part of an expanded investigation into fraud related to the management and use of public land committed by the jailed tycoon Phan Van Anh Vu and his accomplices.

Tran Phuoc Huong, head of the Hai Chau District police, said police officers conducted the house raid at 1.30 p.m. and left the house at 3 p.m.

Police show up in front of Truong Duy Nhat's house
in Tong Phuoc Tho Street in Da Nang City. Photo by VnExpress.

Local residents said Nhat has been absent from his home for a long time.

At a press conference last March, the Ministry of Public Security said that while serving as the chief representative of Dai Doan Ket newspaper, Nhat took advantage of documents with the newspaper to buy public land without going through an auction, resulting in losses to the state exchequer.

Nhat worked for Quang Nam-Da Nang Police’s newspaper for a long time before serving as the chief representative of Dai Doan Ket from 1998-2011.

In 2014, he was sentenced to two years in prison for "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens."

The jailed tycoon Phan Van Anh Vu, 44, used to be one of the biggest property developers in Da Nang and was the chairman of three large property companies as also a shareholder in a number of projects in the city.

He also ran businesses in Ho Chi Minh City and manipulated public land prices there as well. Several former top officials in Da Nang and HCMC have been arrested and are being investigated for mismanagement of public land.