Three former high government officials in Cuba were sentenced Tuesday to up to 12 years in jail for corruption involving ther now-defunct Ministry of Basic Industries. According to the Cuban Communist Party daily Granma, the sentences relate to corruption cases that were exposed in 2010 in "negotiation, contracting and execution" regarding plans to establish a nickel and cobalt plant in the province of Holguin about 700 kilometres east of Havana. Nine other people were also handed prison sentences in connection with this case, Granma reported, noting that the Holguin court highlighted "the seriousness of these events and their harmful consequences in one of the strategic activities for the country's economy."
