Trial of the former Vietnamese deputy minister in rare earth case opened
HANOI: The trial of the case of Thai Duong Company and related units illegally exploiting rare earth at the Yen Phu mine in Yen Bai Province opened in Hanoi on Monday (May 12).
Among 27 defendants on trial, seven are former leaders and employees of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Bai Province.
They are prosecuted for the crime of "violating regulations on management and use of State assets causing loss and waste" as defined under the Penal Code.
They are Nguyen Linh Ngoc, former deputy minister; Nguyen Van Thuan, former director of the General Department of Geology and Minerals; Hoang Van Khoa, former director of the Department of Minerals (belonging General Department of Geology and Minerals); Le Duy Phuong, former senior specialist of the Department of Minerals; Ho Duc Hop, former director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Bai Province; Le Cong Tien, former deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Bai Province; Bui Doan Nhu, former deputy director of the Sub-department of Environmental Protection of Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Bai Province.
The other 20 defendants are directors, deputy directors, accountants and staffs of companies of Thai Duong, the Vietnam Rare Earth Joint Stock Company, the Truong Son War Invalid Joint Stock Company, Duong Lieu Logistics Company, Hop Thanh Phat Transport Company, Atexim Company and HUYHUANG Company.
The charge is for: "violating regulations on resource exploitation, accounting causing serious consequences, and causing environmental pollution, smuggling, and receiving property obtained through criminal acts."
According to the indictment by the Supreme People's Procuracy, this is an especially serious case related to the exploitation, business operations, export and State management of mineral resources.
Doan Van Huan, acting as the head of Thai Duong Company, organised and directed the illegal mining of rare earth and iron ore at the Yen Phu mine between 2019 and 2023.
The total value of illegally extracted minerals is over VNĐ864 billion (US$34 million), of which Huan and his accomplices sold ores worth more than VNĐ763 billion ($30 million).
Huan also directed the creation of two accounting systems, causing a tax loss of over VNĐ9.6 billion ($380,000) to the State.
In 2012, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment assigned Deputy Minister Nguyen Linh Ngoc to oversee matters relating to geology and minerals, and to supervise the General Department of Geology and Minerals – the agency responsible for receiving and evaluating applications for mineral exploitation licence.
Previously, in 2011, the general department received a licence application for rare earth mining at Yen Phu mine from Thái Dương Company.
Ngoc then signed a report to the Prime Minister recommending the issuance of the licence, stating that 'the application dossier meets all requirements.'
The Government Office then issued a document instructing relevant ministries to direct the investor to formulate a project on deep processing of rare earths, along with an environmental impact assessment report.
The PM also issued a directive to strengthen State management over the exploration, mining, processing, use and export of mineral resources.
Following this directive, Thai Duong Company prepared an investment project for a rare earth deep processing complex, including a hydrometallurgical plant in Yên Bái and a separation-processing plant in Dinh Vu of Hai Phong City.
Subsequently, on December 14, 2012, the Government Office sent a document to the Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment, and Industry and Trade, and the People's Committee of Yen Bai Province to convey the Prime Minister's opinion: 'In principle, approval is granted for the exploitation and processing of rare earth ores at Yen Phu, provided that the ores are deeply processed, no raw ores are exported, and all legal obligations under the Mineral Law are fulfilled; the exploitation rights must not be transferred to foreign organisations or individuals.'
Upon receiving this document, Deputy Minister Nguyen Linh Ngoc instructed the General Department to finalise the licensing procedures for Thai Duong Company.
At that time, the project had changed in both scale and nature. It was no longer just a mining and ore-processing project, as initially proposed in 2011, but included three inseparable components of mining and ore-processing project, the hydrometallurgical plant in Yên Bái and the separation-processing plant in Hai Phong.
However, Thai Duong Company's application dossier only included an investment certificate for the mining and ore-processing project, issued by the Yen Bai Province People's Committee in 2011 (which expired in 2012) and had not been renewed or reissued.
There were no investment certificates for the hydrometallurgical plant in Yên Bái or the separation-processing plant in Hai Phong.
Furthermore, Thai Duong Company's equity capital did not meet the legal requirement of 30 per cent of the project's total investment (having only VNĐ200 billion ($7.9 million) compared to a total investment of VNĐ1.953 trillion ($77 million), which violated the Mineral Law.
Nevertheless, officials at the General Department still used the 2011 appraisal results to submit the application.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Linh Ngoc, despite reviewing and knowing that Thai Duong Company did not meet the necessary conditions, still signed off on the licence in 2013.
The procuracy concluded that the actions of the leaders and officials at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment contributed to enabling Huan to illegally exploit and sell rare earth and iron ore worth a total of VNĐ736 billion ($29 million).
The trial is expected to last ten days. - Vietnam News/ANN
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