
Vietnam ex-official took $300,000 bribe to allow illicit sand mining
A former senior provincial official in Vietnam took a $300,000 bribe to allow illegal sand mining in the Mekong Delta, state media said on December 12. Mining sand — mainly for concrete used in construction — has boomed in Vietnam in recent years, prompting dire warnings over the environmental impact of overexploitation. Police have recommended Nguyen Thanh Binh, the former chairman of the people’s committee in An Giang province in the Mekong river delta, be charged with power abuse, according to Public Security News, the official mouthpiece of the Ministry of Public Security. The area is a hotspot for sand mining. Binh, 59, and other officials ordered subordinates to issue a sand mining licence to the Trung Hau 68 company “in return for material gains”, even though it did not qualify, state-controlled news site VNExpress said, citing police. Between December 2021 and July 2023, the company mined over five million…...