05 Judgment on illegal sand mining in Vietnam

Illegal sand mining can be subject to an administrative fine of up to VND 200,000,000 according to the provisions of Article 48 of Decree 36/2020/ND-CP of Vietnam. When the behavior has criminal signs, it will be prosecuted for criminal liability:

Article 227 of the 2015 Criminal Code of Vietnam, as amended and supplemented in 2017 stipulates:

“Article 227. Crime of violating regulations on research, exploration and exploitation of natural resources

Those who violate regulations on research, exploration and exploitation of natural resources in the mainland, islands, internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, continental shelf and airspace of Vietnam without obtaining a license permit or are inconsistent with the license contents in one of the following cases, the offenders shall be subject to a fine of between VND 300,000,000 and VND 1,500,000,000 or a prison term of between 06 months and 03 years:

a) Gaining illicit profits from research, exploration and exploitation of water, oil and gas resources or other minerals ranging from VND 100,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000
…

dd) Has been administratively sanctioned for one of the acts specified in this Article or has been sentenced for this crime, has not yet been expunged, but continues to commit it.

Committing the crime in one of the following circumstances, the offenders shall be subject to a fine of between VND 1,500,000,000 and 5,000,000,000 or a prison term of between two and seven years:

a) Gaining illicit profits from research, exploration and exploitation of water, oil and gas or other mineral resources 500,000,000 VND or more;…”

Here are 05 sentences for illegal sand mining, please read for reference.

1. Judgment on violation of regulations on resource exploitation No. 465/2021/HSPT

- Level of trial: Appellate

- Judicial body: High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City

- Summary of the case: Nguyen Van H, Mr. Tran Van H4 and Mr. Le Van C are hired workers for Mr and Mrs. Truong Van T and Ms. Huynh Thi Le H3. Mrs. H3 asked Mr. H4 to go to Ham Luong River to suck sand, so Mr. H4 operated an iron train with no number, no control plate, with a tonnage of about 120 tons. Mr. C and H operate the machine to drop the pipe into the river to suck sand onto the boat, Mr. H4 controls the boat to move while sucking sand. At 11.10 PM  on the same day, they were caught red-handed by the working group of the Environmental Crime Prevention and Control Division of the Ben Tre Provincial Police, all three admitted all of the above acts and confirmed determined the volume of exploited river sand is 70,596m3.

Court Decision: Statement: Defendant Nguyen Van H committed the crime of "violating regulations on exploitation of natural resources". Sanction: Defendant 06 (six) months in prison.

2. Judgment 320/2021/HS-PT dated 25/05/2021 on crime of violating regulations on exploitation of natural resources

- Level of trial: Appellate

- Judicial body: High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City

- Summary of the case: Tran Van T has been previously sanctioned for administrative violations twice for illegal mining of minerals (river sand). On June 14, 2019, Tran Van T and Vo Van V continued to illegally exploit minerals (river sand) and were administratively fined by the People's Committee of District M with an amount of VND 7,500,000 each. But then, Tran Van T and Vo Van V continued to go to river C (the area without a mining license from the competent authority) to anchor and fix the ship and then start the sand excavator below. When the river bed went to the storage compartment of the iron train, the police task force of district M discovered and caught T and V, who had exploited a volume of 5.2m3 of sand.

Court Decision: Statement: Defendants Tran Van T and Vo Van V commit the crime of “violating regulations on resource exploitation”

3. Judgment 17/2021/HS-PT dated January 19, 2021 on the crime of violating regulations on the exploitation of natural resources

- Level of trial: Appellate

- Judicial body: High People's Court in Hanoi

- Summary of the case: Mr. Nguyen Van X bought a 01 cement hull, explosives, and spare parts to suck sand from the riverbed to the ship's cabin, the total capacity of the ship is about 40m3. After assembling, Mr. X did not register or register but still used it for sand mining. Although he knew that Vu Dinh T (who is his son-in-law) did not have a license to drive a vehicle, and did not have a mining license from a competent State agency, Mr. X still assigned T to manage and use the ship and hire T to suck sand at T4 river. T has been administratively sanctioned by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee H (no criminal record has been cleared) but when he was assigned to manage the ship and hire a sand collector, T still agreed. T assigned T3 (without a license to operate inland waterways) to operate the sand shovel. When the group was sucking sand onto the ship's cabin, they were discovered.

Court decision: Declare Vu Dinh T guilty of "violating regulations on resource exploitation", punishable by 9 months in prison.

4. Judgment 16/2021/HS-ST dated June 3, 2021 on the crime of violating regulations on the exploitation of natural resources

- Level of trial: First instance

- Judicial body: People's Court of An Giang province

- Summary of the case: Nguyen Van V made a phone call to hire Tran Van Th to illegally exploit river sand. V controls a wooden boat carrying Th and T to the water area of ​​Binh Hoa hamlet, Binh Thuy commune, Chau Phu district, An Giang province, then V continues to operate the boat; Th operates the suction machine, drops the suction head and the hose into the river bed to suck the sand. The boat was sucking 03m3 of sand when it was discovered by the force of the Waterway Police Department of the An Giang Provincial Police

Court decision: Declare defendant Tran Van Th guilty of "violating regulations on exploitation of natural resources", sentenced to 9 months in prison

5. Judgment 268/2020/HS-PT dated September 23, 2020 on the crime of violating regulations on resource exploitation

- Level of trial: Appellate

- Judicial body: High People's Court in Da Nang

- Summary of the case: Vo Van M called Nguyen Van T to hire him to illegally mine in the Bo River. At about 22.45 on the same day, when M and T were mining sand in the Bo river bed, they were caught by the Inter-sectoral Working Group on patrol. M and T failed to present the mining license issued by the competent authority. Checking on the aluminum boat, it was discovered that there was a volume of 5m3 of sand as a common building material.

- Court decision: Declare defendants Vo Van M and Nguyen Van T guilty of "violating regulations on resource exploitation"

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