North Sulawesi officials investigated over Buyat case

The police has summoned a number of senior officials of the North Sulawesi provincial administration as part of the police's intensive investigation over alleged pollution

of the local Buyat Bay by gold mining company PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR), Kompas reported on Monday.

The spokesman of the local police Budhy Wibowo said that the officials in questioned among others included the head of the provincial mining office, and the head of the provincial office of the environmental watchdog Bapedal.

He said both senior officials were still probed as witnesses in the Buyat case.

The NMR's operation has become a controversy after a number of local villagers claimed unhealthy and suffer skin diseases because of mercury and arsenic pollution of the Buyat Bay. Some even said the villagers may have suffered from Minamata disease.(*)