Lao Cai province's former Party chief, former chairman arrested

Nguyen Van Vinh, former secretary of Lao Cai's Party Committee, and Doan Van Huong, former chairman of the province, were arrested on Thursday for further investigation into their alleged violations in an illegal apatite mining case.

The provincial police prosecuted and detained Vinh, Huong, and Ngo Duc Hoang, an official of the Department of Geology of Vietnam under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, for "abusing positions and power while on duty, in line with Clause 3, Article 281 of the Penal Code".

This is part of an expanded investigation into the case of violations in resource exploitation related to Vietnam Apatit Limited Company. Previously, authorities had prosecuted eight people of Apatit Vietnam for breaching regulations on research, exploration and exploitation of resources.

For the crime of abusing positions and power while on duty, the police had prosecuted Nguyen Thanh Duong and Le Ngoc Hung, two former vice chairmen of Lao Cai; Mai Dinh Dinh, former director of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and Phan Van Cuong, deputy director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

According to the investigation conclusion, LiLama Trading Construction Co., Ltd was licensed to build a hotel and restaurant complex on an area of 3.77 hectares in Dong Tuyen commune, Lao Cai in 2009. However, the company relied on documents that were approved by the Lao Cai People's Committee illegally to publicly exploit apatite.

LiLama then signed a contract with Apatite Vietnam to sell all of the ore mined, earning illicit profits. The defendants were found to have illegally exploited more than 1.5 million tons of apatite ore of all kinds, valued at more than VND610 billion ($25.99 million).

The police also determined that many other officials of the Lao Cai People's Committee were responsible for creating conditions for LiLama to illegally exploit ore.

In early May, the Politburo, the Communist Party's premier policy-making body, has proposed the Party Central Committee consider taking disciplinary action against Nguyen Van Vinh, former Party Central Committee member, former secretary of Lao Cai's Party Committee, and former chairman of the province.

The Politburo and the Party Central Committee's Secretariat determined that Vinh, Doan Van Huong, Nguyen Thanh Duong, Le Ngoc Hung, and Mai Dinh Dinh had degraded in terms of political ideology, morality and lifestyle; violated the Party's regulations and the State's laws while on duty.

These five men were also found to have violated the regulations on Party members' code of conduct and responsibility to set a good example; lacked responsibility; showed loose leadership and direction; lacked inspection and supervision. As a result, many Party organizations and members committed violations and were handled as criminals.

The above violations have caused "very serious consequences that are difficult to remedy" and "led to great losses of state money and property, causing frustration in society and adversely affecting the reputation of Party organizations and the local administration."