Vietnam jails 23 people over illegal rare earth mining

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - A court in Vietnam sentenced 23 officials and businesspeople Wednesday for illegally mining and exporting rare earths.

The court accused Thai Duong Company of illegally mining and earning more than 736 billion Vietnamese dong ($28.3 million) in profits, VN Express reported.

The company's chairman, Doan Van Huan, was accused of causing tax losses to the state, damaging the environment and exporting iron ore to China despite being required to sell domestically between 2019 and 2023 from the Yen Phu mine in Yen Bai Province and was subsequently sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison.

Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Linh Ngoc was sentenced to three years in prison for the granting of illegal rare earth mining licenses.

Businessman Luu Anh Tuan, the chairman of Vietnam Rare Earth JSC, received the longest sentence of 16 years.

The rest of the defendants were sentenced to between two and eight years and six months.

Four of the total 27 defendants' sentences were suspended.