Former Deputy Head of Department of Natural Resources and Environment was found guilty.

(Baonghean) -The collapse of the Co quarry in Nam Thanh commune - Yen Thanh on April 1, 2011 killed 18 people and injured 7 others. The Nghe An Police Investigation Agency has decided to prosecute Mr. Hoang Thanh Long - former Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Thanh District People's Committee for "lack of responsibility causing serious consequences".

According to the documents of the Investigation Agency, Mr. Hoang Thanh Long - Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Thanh district was assigned twice as the head of the delegation (on March 30 and December 8, 2010) to directly inspect mineral exploitation activities in Yen Thanh district. Inspecting the quarry at Len Co, the inspection team did not detect and did not report unsafe exploitation by Chin Men Company. On February 21, 2010, Mr. Hoang Thanh Long advised the People's Committee of Yen Thanh district to send Official Dispatch No. 273/UBND to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, People's Committee of Nghe An province to request an extension of the mineral exploitation license for Chin Men Company Limited. The official dispatch stated: "After more than 2 years of actual inspection, the Company has carried out resource exploitation in accordance with the feasibility report and the mine design as defined." Thus, Mr. Hoang Thanh Long advised the People's Committee of Yen Thanh district to sign a document that was not true to reality, creating a false profile for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the province to use as a basis to advise the People's Committee of the province to grant a license to extend mineral exploitation to Chin Men Company Limited, which then led to the quarry collapse accident.

Immediately after that, Mr. Hoang Thanh Long sent a petition to the authorities, requesting consideration to reduce the sentence. Because according to Mr. Long, the individuals involved were still "safe and sound", which was not satisfactory.

Even before that, the province's interdisciplinary inspection team also inspected the quarry of Chin Men Company Ltd. and the quarry was still operating normally, but the authorities did not investigate to determine right or wrong.

Talking to us, Mr. Long said: On April 21, 2010, a representative of Chin Men Company Ltd. met with Mr. Nguyen Duc Thien - Head of the District Department of Natural Resources and Environment to request a file check. Mr. Thien assigned Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phuc, an officer of the file receiving department, to check the submitted content and initial it under the authorization of the department head. If the submitted content is incorrect, leading to the wrong licensing as concluded by the Investigation Police Agency, then all those involved in advising on the submitted content must be held responsible for this matter.

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