Department of Agriculture and Rural Development responds to the issue raised by the newspaper

(Baonghean) - Nghe An Newspaper No. 9894, published on July 3, 2014, had an article "Handling illegal forest exploitation in Quynh Van commune is not satisfactory". On August 1, 2014, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Official Dispatch No. 276/BC.SNN.VP ​​to respond to the issue raised by the newspaper, with the following content:

Through the article, according to the complaint of the people of hamlet 13, Quynh Van commune, Quynh Luu district against Mr. Le Duc Ai, residing in the same village, seriously violated the forestry law in exploiting and thinning pine forests, collecting forest products at Dong Cao hill; at the same time, the authorities of Quynh Van commune were very irresponsible in checking and supervising before granting licenses and supervising the implementation of the granted licenses, but the forestry agency has not completed its task in investigating the reality and has not fully reported to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, therefore, the administrative penalty for Mr. Le Duc Ai is not satisfactory, while the violation in illegal forest exploitation of Mr. Le Duc Ai is much more serious. When people filed a complaint, the authorities were slow to handle it, or did not handle it thoroughly, showing signs of covering up the violations.

The pine forest area on Dong Cao hill, hamlet 13, Quynh Van commune has been completely cut down.

The Forest Protection Department coordinated with the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district, Quynh Luu Forest Protection Department, the Forestry Planning Investigation Team and the Quynh Van commune government to conduct an inspection and verification of the complaint, with the following results:

- Regarding the decision to grant the exploitation license: The People's Committee of Quynh Van commune granted Mr. Le Duc Ai a license to exploit and thin pine forests, collect forest products and build firebreaks at Lot 1, 2, 3, 4, Compartment 2, Sub-area 344C in accordance with the law.

- Regarding Mr. Le Duc Ai's violations: Mr. Ai illegally exploited 140 pine trees outside the licensed records and illegally exploited 155 pine trees outside the firebreak, exploiting more than 17.45 m3 of pine wood.

Regarding the violation of Mr. Le Duc Ai, the Forest Protection Department has based on the provisions of current law to see that the case is beyond the jurisdiction of the Forest Protection Department, and must propose to the Provincial People's Committee to handle it. The Forest Protection Department has issued Official Dispatch No. 486/KL-TTPC dated November 19, 2013 on advising and requesting the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to issue a decision to administratively sanction Mr. Le Duc Ai according to the law.

Based on the proposal of the Forest Protection Department, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 5622/QD-UBND.KT dated November 27, 2013, administratively fining Mr. Le Duc Ai 50 million VND for illegal forest exploitation (as stipulated in Point a, Clause 1, Article 18, Decree No. 99/2009/ND-CP dated November 2, 2009 of the Government), forcing Mr. Le Duc Ai to replant forests on the exploited area.

The case has been publicly verified, the results have been announced to the local authorities, and the people know that the Provincial People's Committee Chairman's decision to punish Mr. Ai is the right person, the right violation, and the right law.

Following the reflection of Nghe An Newspaper No. 9894 dated July 3, 2014, the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Official Dispatch No. 2098/SNN-VP dated July 8, 2014 directing the Head of the Forestry Sub-Department to coordinate with relevant agencies and units to establish an inspection team to verify the incident. If it is true as reported by the newspaper, propose measures to handle the matter in accordance with the law.

The Forest Protection Department sent a working group to coordinate with the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district, the Quynh Luu Forest Protection Department and the People's Committee of Quynh Van commune to inspect and verify the entire incident, with the following results:

1. Mr. Le Duc Ai's violation in exploiting and thinning forest products at Dong Cao hill, Quynh Van commune is correct.

2. The decision of the Forest Protection Department to advise the People's Committee of Nghe An province to administratively sanction Mr. Le Duc Ai for serious violations of forestry laws in exploiting and thinning pine forests and collecting forest products at Dong Cao hill is appropriate, strict, and in accordance with the provisions of law.

3. The handling of people's petitions and denunciations has been carried out by competent authorities in a timely manner, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations, with no signs of covering up Mr. Le Duc Ai's wrongdoings.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development would like to acknowledge and thank Nghe An Newspaper for its attention to reflecting and reporting on the above incident. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and units in the industry determined that the information reflected by the newspaper is very important, helping the Agriculture sector gain more lessons in directing and operating, and handling incidents related to forest management and protection better.

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development