Legal proceedings have been launched against 26 individuals allegedly involving in the illegal rare earth exploitation case at Thai Duong Group JSC, said Major General Hoang Anh Tuyen, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security at a regular Government press conference on August 5 in Hanoi.

They were accused of violating regulations on research, exploration, and exploitation of natural resources; violating regulations on accounting causing particularly serious consequences; smuggling; selling assets obtained by others through crime; and violating regulations on management and use of State assets causing losses and waste".

According to the initial investigation results, Nguyen Linh Ngoc, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment knew that Thai Duong did not meet the conditions to exploit rare earth but still assessed that it was qualified and proposed the ministry to issue a license for the company to exploit rare earth, which caused losses of more than 600 billion VND (23.9 million USD) to the State budget.

Nguyen Van Thuan, former General Director of the General Department of Geology and Minerals of Vietnam; Hoang Van Khoa, former Director of the Department of Minerals under the General Department of Geology and Minerals of Vietnam; Ho Duc Hop, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Bai province) and Le Cong Tien, Deputy Director of the provincial department, were charged with violating regulations on management and use of State assets causing losses and waste.

The Investigation Police Department for Corruption, Smuggling and Economic Crimes is consolidating documents and evidence of the criminal acts of the accused, expand the investigation into related individuals to strictly handle them in line with law; and verify, and thoroughly recover assets for the State, Tuyen said./. VNA