HAVANA, (Reuters) – Three former vice ministers in Cuba’s Basic Industry Ministry and nine nickel industry executives have been sentenced to long prison terms for corruption, Cuban state media said yesterday.
The officials and a former head of negotiations for Cubaniquel, the state-run nickel company, received sentences ranging from six to 12 years for “crimes associated with corruption during the negotiation, contracting and execution of the expansion of the Pedro Soto Alba (nickel) plant,” in eastern Cuba, according to the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
The plant, the largest of three nickel processing plants in Holguin province, is a joint venture between the government and Canadian mining company Sherritt International Corp.
There was no mention of Sherritt in the report and company officials were not immediately available for comment.
