Ministry of Natural Resources and Ha Tinh respond to conclusions on violations related to Formosa project

A former Minister and two former Deputy Ministers of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will be considered and disciplined by the Party Central Committee Secretariat for their responsibilities related to the Formosa Ha Tinh project.

» General Cuong and 5 questions about handling violations from Formosa Ha Tinh

The Central Inspection Committee has just concluded on the violations and shortcomings related to the Formosa Ha Tinh project of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Natural Resources (2008-2016) and 5 officials who have held and are holding management positions at different levels of this Ministry. The level of violations and shortcomings is determined to be serious, requiring consideration and disciplinary action.

Minister of Natural Resources Tran Hong Ha said that according to regulations, only General Department-level officials under the Ministry's authority can be disciplined, other cases will be considered by higher levels.

Specifically, according to the Central Inspection Committee, the responsibility for the violations related to the Formosa Ha Tinh project belongs to Mr. Nguyen Minh Quang, former Minister in his position as head; Mr. Bui Cach Tuyen, former Deputy Minister, former Director General of the General Department of Environment; and Mr. Nguyen Thai Lai, former Deputy Minister. These cases will be reviewed and disciplined by the Secretariat.

According to the Central Inspection Committee, during their tenure as Director of the Department of Environmental Impact Assessment and Appraisal, Mr. Mai Thanh Dung and Director of the Department of Environmental Protection Control, Mr. Luong Duy Hanh were irresponsible in performing their assigned duties and tasks.

Minister of Natural Resources Tran Hong Ha said that before Tet, the Ministry had decided to transfer Mai Thanh Dung from Deputy Director General of the Environment to Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment. In the case of Mr. Luong Duy Hanh, after the above conclusion, the Ministry will continue to consider the specific signs of violations, from which to propose disciplinary action. "The principle is not to cover up, to deal with the wrongdoings," said Mr. Ha.

Sharing his personal opinion, a current leader of the Ministry of Natural Resources said that the initial determination of violations by Mr. Mai Thanh Dung and Mr. Luong Duy Hanh was mainly due to the lack of sufficient knowledge to advise and be highly vigilant in large projects like Formosa; it was not discovered that these two men violated for personal gain.

"In the difficult context at that time, attracting large projects for poor provinces was something everyone wanted, so everyone supported it, which led to shortcomings. But clearly these officials were not close enough to monitor and forecast the situation, so even if it was an oversight or shortcoming, it still had to be seriously considered to create trust with the people," said the leader of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

A corner of the Formosa Ha Tinh project. Photo: Duc Hung

Mr. Ho Anh Tuan: "Retired but very miserable"

The Central Inspection Committee also concluded that the Party Executive Committee of the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province for the 2004-2011 and 2011-2016 terms lacked responsibility in leadership and direction; lax management and operation; lacked inspection and supervision during project implementation; and allowed violations in appraisal, approval, licensing and state management of the Formosa Ha Tinh project.

For the above violations, the main responsibility belongs to Mr. Vo Kim Cu during his tenure as Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for the 2011-2016 term, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and Head of the Economic Zone Management Board (2008-2010) and the responsibility of Mr. Ho Anh Tuan, Head of the Vung Ang Economic Zone Management Board (2010-2016).

Now retired, Mr. Ho Anh Tuan expressed his agreement with the conclusion of the inspection agency. "The responsibility assigned by the Party, if not fulfilled, must admit shortcomings," he said.

According to Mr. Tuan, after the environmental incident, the Central Inspection Committee worked with the Party Executive Committee of the Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee, in which he participated as a member. During several meetings, all members of the Executive Committee explained according to regulations.

Mr. Tuan explained that mistakes in the management process are inevitable, because the Formosa project is very large, with a scale of thousands of hectares, so during the implementation process, "The Economic Zone Management Board can hardly handle it. There are many areas that need to be managed, but we do not have expertise in all areas, or in other words, we are not equipped with enough knowledge."

Regarding the fact that Mr. Vo Kim Cu is primarily responsible, and he is responsible for violations related to the Formosa project, Mr. Ho Anh Tuan said that the licensing process "has a whole council, not just Mr. Cu or me. When the superiors decide, the Head of the Economic Zone Management Board can sign the license".

"My point of view is that the leader must take responsibility. From 2010 onwards, I have been the head of the provincial economic zone management board, I must accept my shortcomings," Mr. Tuan said and said he was ready to accept discipline after the conclusion of the Central Inspection Committee.

At the time the marine environmental incident occurred in 4 central provinces (April 2016), Mr. Tuan was retired and did not participate in handling the situation. However, returning to normal life during that period, he had to endure a lot of bad reputation from neighbors and relatives, which was also "very miserable".

Dead fish in Ha Tinh at the time of the marine environmental incident. Photo: Duc Hung

In addition to Mr. Vo Kim Cu and Mr. Ho Anh Tuan, the Central Inspection Committee determined that Mr. Le Dinh Son (currently Secretary of the Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee), Dang Quoc Khanh (Chairman of the Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee), Duong Tat Thang (Vice Chairman of the Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee) and Nguyen Nhat (Deputy Minister of Transport) were partly responsible during their time as members of the Party Committee of the Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee.

"The conclusion of the Central Inspection Commission is completely objective," said Vice Chairman of the Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee Duong Tat Thang, adding that during the inspection agency's work with Ha Tinh, he participated as a member of the Provincial Party Committee's Standing Committee. "During this work, the opinions discussed by superiors were correct and appropriate," he said.

Mr. Le Dinh Son, Secretary of Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee, said he had not yet received the conclusion of the Central Inspection Committee and only learned about the content through the press.

"I am an insider so I cannot make an assessment. Everything was done in accordance with the Party's regulations and charter," said Mr. Son, adding that according to the conclusion of the Central Inspection Committee, his responsibility was to "deeply review and seriously learn from experience."

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat said that in 2008, when the Formosa project was granted an investment license by Ha Tinh province, he was the General Director of the Ha Tinh Minerals and Trading Corporation. In 2010, Mr. Nhat held the position of Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, member of the Party Committee of the Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee, and was assigned to be in charge of site clearance for the Formosa project. Mr. Nhat affirmed that he had committed no violations in the field of site clearance, which has been concluded by competent authorities.

"I have discussed with the Central Inspection Committee about personal responsibility, there were no mistakes in the field I was in charge of, but the Committee requested to review the general responsibility of the Party Committee of the Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee, so I accepted the form of review," said Mr. Nguyen Nhat.

On February 23, the reporter contacted all individuals named in the conclusion of the Central Inspection Commission, but apart from the above opinions, the remaining individuals have not responded.

According to VNE