Hanoi - Government authorities have fined the
Taiwanese-owned condiment company Vedan 7.7 million dollars for
discharging thousands of cubic meters of pollutants into a river in
southern Vietnam, officials said Wednesday.
'We have decided to punish Vedan for its violations,' said Deputy
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha.
According to the decision released Tuesday, Vedan's factory in
Dong Nai province must halt all sewage discharges for six months and
can only resume operation when it satisfies regulations on waste
treatment.
Under Vietnamese law, Vedan is subject to a maximum fine of 16,000
dollars, but the government has ordered Vedan to retroactively pay
7.7 million dollars in wastewater fees it has evaded for the past 10
years.
Local media report Vietnamese immigration police have prevented
Vedan executives from leaving the country until the company
remediates the environmental consequences of its actions.
Vedan executives will reportedly not be personally charged with
criminal violations.
Inspectors accuse Vedan of discharging a total of 45,000 cubic
metres of contaminated effluents over the past 10 years, effectively
killing a 12-kilometre stretch of the Thi Vai River.
'The firm has repeatedly violated environmental regulations by
dumping untreated wastewater into the Thi Vai River since 1994,' said
Ha. 'Vietnamese authorities have warned them, but things have not
changed much.'
Government inspectors found the company had broken 12
environmental codes.
According to the government's web site, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung ordered ministries and provinces in June to tighten monitoring
of local as well as overseas companies in Vietnam and take action
against companies that pollute the environment.
'Pollution in Vietnam has reached red-alert levels,' said Colonel
Nguyen Xuan Ly, chief of the Environmental Police Agency. 'We will
strengthen environmental inspections on both local and foreign
companies.'
According to Vietnamese law, discharging pollution or toxic
substances into water and failing to take environmental measures
despite orders from government agencies is subject to a fine of
between 300 and 5,000 dollars for each violation, or between one and
10 years imprisonment.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story