Economy
VN's food processing industry struggles to improve quality and value chain integration
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| Police in Mekong Delta’s Bạc Liêu on Monday arrested the director of Minh Hiếu Fishery Joint-Stock Company on charges of defrauding the company and property appropriation after allegedly falsifying a VNĐ64 billion (US$2.9 million) bank loan application. — Photo thanhnien.vn |
BẠC LIÊU — Police in Mekong Delta’s Bạc Liêu on Monday arrested the director of Minh Hiếu Fishery Joint-Stock Company on charges of defrauding the company and property appropriation after allegedly falsifying a VNĐ64 billion (US$2.9 million) bank loan application.
Fishery tycoon Ngô Chí Dũng used 121 tonnes of shrimp stock as collateral for the loan from the Bank of Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BIDV), but police said he had only 52 kilos of shrimp in the warehouse.
Together with Dũng, Nguyễn Thị Út of the company was arrested on the same charges of defrauding the company and appropriating property after an inspection was conducted at the Giá Rai Town-based company on Monday.
Út was employed as chairwoman and general director of Minh Hiếu Bạc Liêu Company, and Trần Đình Tiến held the same position at Bình Hưng Company, subsidiaries of Minh Hiếu Fishery Joint-Stock Company.
In 2011, Dũng allegedly ordered the subsidiaries to create fake documents showing that the company’s warehouse had 121 tonnes of shrimp so that he could borrow VNĐ64 billion (US$2.9 million) from the BIDV’s Bạc Liêu Branch.
The bank has already disbursed VNĐ37 billion (US$1.68 million) to the company, but the fishery company said it could not pay VNĐ42 billion (US$1.9 million) of the debt.
Dũng was also charged with mortgaging the stock at several other banks, leaving an additional bad debt of VNĐ128 billion (US$5.8 million).
Authorities discovered the debt and the 52kg of shrimp in the warehouse after the fishery company told the bank that it was unable to pay its debt. — VNS
