Vietnam Probes Japanese Firm Over Bribery

Vietnam is investigating reports that a Japanese plastic company bribed Vietnamese officials JPY25 million (US$215,000) to escape tax duties and fines.

The Finance Ministry has formed an investigation team to verify recent reports by some Japanese newspapers including Asahi that plastic firm Tenma had bribed Vietnamese officials on two occasions in 2017 and last year.

Asahi reported that Tenma representatives on April 1 confessed to prosecutors in Tokyo that its subsidiary Tenma Vietnam in June 2017 had imported a batch of molds and Vietnamese officials demanded a value-added tax of JPY1.8 billion (US$16.7 million).

To avoid this obligation, the CEO of Tenma Vietnam, which is based in the northern province of Bac Ninh, had paid a senior customs official VND2 billion (JPY10 million or about US$86,000) in cash.

On May 1, Tenma announced on its website that the CEO implicated in the bribery will announce his resignation at a shareholders’ meeting in June.

The company is being investigated for bribing foreign officials and violating unfair competition laws in Japan.

Full Content: VN Express

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