An Giang province chairman removed from Communist Party for sand mining violations

The Party Central Committee's Secretariat has expelled Nguyen Thanh Binh, Party chief and Chairman of An Giang province, from Vietnam Communist Party for violations related to the country's largest illegal sand mining scam.

On Saturday morning, the Secretariat also removed Tran Anh Thu, Vice Chairman of the An Giang People's Committee, from the Party. Binh and Thu were both arrested.

According to the Politburo and the Secretariat, Binh and Thu showed deterioration in political ideology, morality and lifestyle; violated Party regulations and State laws in carrying out assigned responsibilities and tasks; and breached regulations on Party members' code of conduct and responsibility to set a good example as leaders.

These violations have caused serious consequences, caused public anger, and negatively affected the reputation of Party organizations and local governments, they noted.

Binh, 59, has a doctorate in education. He used to work in An Giang's education sector, and was director of the provincial Department of Education and Training. Binh later worked as chief of Tan Chau township's Party Committee, and then vice chairman of An Giang People's Committee in the 2011-2016 term. Since May 2019, he has been chairman of the committee.

The Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency on December 25 initiated legal proceedings against and arrested Binh for further investigation into his alleged crime of abusing positions while on duty in the country's largest illegal sand mining case.

He has been accused of intervening and helping Trung Hau Investment Joint Stock Company (Trung Hau 68) gain a license to explore, exploit, adjust reserves and capacity, and exploit illegally a sand mine in My Hiep and Binh Phuoc Xuan communes, Cho Moi district.

The investigative agency determined that Binh's act helped the company "gain a very large amount of illicit profit, causing damage to state assets".

In the same case, the investigative agency had previously launched legal proceedings against Tran Anh Thu, vice chairman of An Giang People's Committee, for allegedly accepting bribes of VND1.2 billion ($49,500) to create conditions for Trung Hau 68 to mine sand at excessive levels.

Nguyen Viet Tri, director of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment, has also been accused of accepting bribes.

The investigative agency has launched legal proceedings against a total of 22 people, including seven former officials of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the related Monitoring Center who are now under investigation for alleged crimes of abusing positions and power while on duty.

Le Quang Binh, board chairman and general director of Trung Hau 68, has been investigated for violating regulations on research, exploration, and exploitation of natural resources, giving bribes, and printing, circulating and trading invoices illegally.

According to the initial investigation, Trung Hau 68 was licensed by An Giang People's Committee to exploit more than 1.5 million m3 of sand to supply four works under the North-South Expressway eastern section project. The sand mine is located in My Hiep and Binh Phuoc Xuan communes, Cho Moi district.

Authorities determined that taking advantage of the granted mineral exploitation license, Trung Hau 68 chairman Le Quang Binh directed the exploitation of more than 4.7 million m3 of sand, with an estimated value of about VND253 billion ($10.44 million).

The company did not declare the value in their financial records, avoiding paying tax for the excessive exploitation of 3.2 million m3 of sand.

According to the accusations, in order to sell illegally mined sand to gain illicit profits, Binh and his accomplices used intermediary companies they established to create fake invoices. Binh said he spent a part of the sum on bribing a number of officials.