Bogus journalist arrested in Vietnam
A man was arrested in Vietnam for posing as a journalist
for seven years in order to pocket the cash and gifts
traditionally handed out to local reporters to encourage
them to write positive stories.
Lai Ngoc Oanh, 56, was detained by police on Thursday
in Hanoi after a tip-off by suspicious reporters from the
Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon newspaper, for whom he
claimed to work.
Mr Oanh, formerly a car mechanic from the northern
province of Lao Cai, confessed that since 1997 he had
used a false name to pass himself off as a reporter for the
Ho Chi Minh City-based economic weekly.
He told Saturday's Lao Dong's newspaper that by posing
as a journalist he was able to earn more money than he
could as a mechanic.
Police are drawing up papers to prosecute him on
charges of fraud and forging state identity papers, the
report said.
ABC News Australia - July 13, 2003.
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