The illegal mining of Qilian Mountains earns tens of billions. Why does the "hidden richest man" dare to stand up to the wind?

  ■ Observer

  Strictly investigate the "hidden richest man" involved in the incident, and plug the loopholes from the source of the system, and urgently need to be put on the local work schedule.

  Three years ago, the issue of Qilian Mountain's ecological environment protection was notified by the central government. The unprecedented storm of accountability and intensity started the largest ecological defense battle in the history of Qilian Mountain. However, the "Economic Information Daily" reporter has continued to investigate for more than two years and found that under the high pressure of the report, the ecological protection of Qilian Mountains has achieved overall results, but the illegal mining of the Muli coal field in the southern hinterland of Qinghai Province has not been eradicated. Large-scale and destructive open-pit illegal mining of coal mines is adding new and huge trauma to this original ecological alpine grassland wetland. The source of the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Qinghai Lake and Qilian Mountains are facing local ecological damage.

  It has been confirmed by many parties that the private enterprise Qinghai Xingqing Industry and Trade Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Xingqing Company") caused this ecological disaster. Ma Shaowei, the chairman of the company, is known as Qinghai’s "hidden richest man". He has been involved in the Juhugeng Coal Mine in the Muli mining area for 14 years. He is suspected of illegally mining more than 26 million tons of coal without a license, earning more than 10 billion yuan.

  In the past 14 years, although there have been many environmental protection law enforcement and inspections, although there was an unprecedented environmental accountability storm in the Qilian Mountains in 2017, it has not stopped the craziness of illegal mining.

  Why hasn't it been thoroughly investigated for such crazy fraud? According to related reports, the company is indeed very good at disguising. For example, their pirates are selling dog meat under the name of repair. Local people call it “repair while destroying; small repair and major destruction”. Upon inspection by the superior, production was temporarily suspended, and all the coal mining machinery and equipment were transferred to the Zhashan plastic construction site. The ore body and the excavated coal were either covered with soil or covered with a green soil net, which looked like a green lawn. As soon as the inspectors leave, they will resume operations immediately. This practice of hiding and hiding has indeed increased the difficulty of supervision and paralyzed the judgment of many people.

  But it is not impossible to debunk such a "peek-a-boo" game. After all, Xingqing’s illegal mining is not a trivial matter. How can such a large-scale mining operation be perfectly covered? What's more, since it is "ecological restoration", regular assessment and evaluation must be carried out. If the assessment and evaluation are not performed on the spot, how can "fake restoration, real fraud" succeed?

  Obviously, it is impossible to justify large-scale illegal procurement that happened under the nose of supervision. Among them, there are obviously many doubts. For example, where is Xingqing's magical powers, can you get the news from the superior department to check in advance, and do your homework in advance? For example, how did this company, which does not have coal mining qualifications and has many inferiorities, obtained mine restoration qualifications? For example, the company’s chairman Ma Shaowei said in an interview that their ecological restoration has even been “affirmed by the provincial government as a model for ecological restoration and governance, and the experience is promoted in the Muli mining area.” Who assessed such an absurd model?

  General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the ecological destruction of Qilian Mountains, and has issued important instructions on many occasions, requesting "to resolve outstanding problems promptly, to improve environmental violations, and to promote environmental protection and restoration of Qilian Mountains."

  The illegal mining of coal in the Qilian Mountains that was exposed this time has never stopped for 14 years, and the profit has reached tens of billions. Why is it emboldened? It has to be suspicious. Generally speaking, there is a dereliction of duty behind the ecological failure. Therefore, a thorough investigation of the chain of interests behind the illegal procurement and dereliction of duty and dereliction of duty should be an important investigation direction in the future. In addition to rigorously investigating the issue of the “hidden richest man” involved in the turmoil, how to plug the loopholes at the source of the system and say no to the ecological restoration of “selling dog meat” also needs to be put on the agenda.

  □Yu Ping (media person)