The National Assembly’s Standing Committee (NASC) voted yesterday to remove lawmaker Võ Kim Cự, the official involved in the Formosa environmental disaster, from the 14th NA. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The National Assembly’s Standing Committee (NASC) voted yesterday to remove lawmaker Võ Kim Cự, the official involved in the Formosa environmental disaster, from the 14^th NA.

The NASC adopted a resolution on Cự’s dismissal by a majority vote during a closed meeting on Monday afternoon. The resolution went into effect on the same day.

The 60-year-old NA deputy represents Hà Tĩnh Province, where the Taiwanese steelmaker Formosa Hưng Nghiệp caused mass fish deaths last April by dumping polluted wastewater. Cự himself asked to resign from his deputy post following the Party’s conclusions and the penalties imposed for his violations.

The law on the organisation of the National Assembly granted jurisdiction to the NASC, instead of the NA, to remove Cự from his NA office. His sacking will be reported to the NA plenary at its upcoming meeting opening on May 22.

Cự still serves as Chairman of the Việt Nam Co-operative Alliance and a member of the Presidium of the Việt Nam Fatherland Front’s Central Committee. He was stripped off all his Party titles in Hà Tĩnh Province by the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat in April, one of which was the top position as the provincial Party Secretary, for his responsibility in the Formosa incident.

Cự was found to have personally signed several illegal documents related to Formosa activities in Hà Tĩnh Province and was "mainly responsible for wrongdoings" from 2008-2016. 

The Government already asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to consider penalties against Cự for his actions while serving as the chairman of the provincial People’s Committee until last year.

Hundreds tonnes of dead fish were washed ashore in four central provinces last year in the largest-ever environmental disaster in Việt Nam. Formosa promised to pay US$500 million in compensation to around 260,000 local residents affected by the disaster and to restore the destroyed marine life.

On the first day of its 10^th meeting, the NASC also looked into the supplemental report on implementation of the socio-economic development plan and State budget in 2016 and the first months in 2017.

During the three-day meeting, legislators debate proposed amendments and supplements to some articles of the Penal Code and the 2015 draft resolution on handling bad debts of credit organisations.

They will also discuss ratification of a treaty supplementing the Border Delimitation Treaty between Việt Nam and Laos regarding the revision of the starting point of the two countries’ border line, as well as the Protocol on the two nations’ border line and border markers. — VNS