Foreign polluters throw curve ball

illustration photo

According to the province’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the investigation of Tung Kuang Industrial Joint Stock Company destroying the environment is still “ongoing” since the case was uncovered in April, last year.

“We are not sure whether Tung Kuang will be prosecuted. The provincial environmental police said that documents of the case were being made, but it was a long process. The firm has been temporarily fined,” said Vu Dinh Hien, head of the department’s Environmental Management Section.

Pham Khoi Nguyen, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), said that many localities, including Hai Duong, did not dare impose a heavy crackdown or even criminal charges on polluting enterprises for fear of ruffling investors’ feathers.

Dang Van Loi, head of international cooperation and science and technology at the Vietnam Environmental Administration, said that over the past years, many foreign firms in Vietnam like Tung Kuang had been destroying the environment.

“But no corporate executive or investor has been imprisoned. This is because specific punishments for specific polluters are unavailable. For example, who can you fine at a polluting foreign firm? Its director or its management board? Or the staff who manipulate the discharging system? Or its parent company overseas?” he said.

Loi said that in cases like Tung Kuang, it was hard to calculate the damage caused, because the case needed to be assessed by many different agencies.

Tung Kuang, once listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, was caught red-handed discharging untreated toxic waste directly into the Gie River in the province’s Cam Giang district since 2008. In fact, prior to that, the company had already been warned of its violations several times by local authorities.

Nguyen The Chinh, vice head of MoNRE’s Institute of Strategy and Policy on Resources and Environment, said that this case was far more dangerous than previous cases, because it related to metal and chemical wastes that were more toxic than foodstuff-related wastewater.

According to the Ministry of Public Security’s environment police department (C36), who detected the case, Tung Kuang’s discharged water contained lots of toxic chemicals and metal substances with a concentration 10-times higher than permissible limits. “Tung Kuang’s violations are sufficient enough for it to be prosecuted,” Chinh said.

If prosecuted, the Tung Kuang case would give big lessons to other undiscovered polluters.

After its violation was found, Tung Kuang removed all of its discharging systems and has installed new equipment to treat its wastewater. “However, local investigation agencies are still keeping a close watch on the company’s new wastewater treatment system,” Hien said.