BISHKEK, (Kyrgyzstan): A court in Kyrgyzstan has fined Canadian-owned miner Koumtor Gold Company more than 2.5 billion dollars for environmental pollution at the country's biggest gold mine. Koumtor, part of Canada's Centerra Gold group, was accused of stocking waste for years on two glaciers close to the operation.

"Bishkek's Oktiabrski court decided on May 7 to fine Koumtor Gold Company 261.7 billion soms," (2.53 billion euros, $3.1 billion)", a court spokesman told AFP on Saturday. The verdict fell a day after parliament passed a bill allowing the government to enforce "external management" on a foreign firm if environmental laws have been broken.