Vietnam jails former Peregrine Capital chief
HANOI - A court in southern
Vietnam has jailed the former head of Peregrine Capital
Vietnam for five years on charges related to smuggling
motorbikes, a prosecuting official said on Thursday.
Nguyen Trung Truc, an overseas Vietnamese with
Australian citizenship, had been under investigation for
tax evasion since May 1996 after officials raided
Peregrine Capital's Ho Chi Minh City office.
But after extensive investigations he was not prosecuted
for tax evasion but for charges related to smuggling, the
official from the State Prosecutor's office in Ba
Ria-Vung Tau province said.
``As far as I know there are not any other problems,''
the official added, saying the trial had taken place on
December 25.
Australian diplomats said they were unable to comment
as the case involved consular ``privacy issues.''
The high profile Truc was first detained in April 1997
before being released without trial the following
October. His precise movements since then were
unclear.
He was at one stage seen as a shining example of how
Vietnamese returning to the communist-led country
could develop successful businesses.
Truc emigrated from the former South Vietnam in 1972,
three years before communist forces ousted the
U.S.-backed Saigon regime to reunify Vietnam. He
returned in 1990.
As head of Peregrine Capital, the Vietnam arm of the
now failed Hong Kong-based Peregrine Investments
Holdings, Truc had run operations that included
investment financing, car sales and consumer goods
distribution.
Some analysts have said that Vietnamese authorities
were clumsy and heavy-handed in dealing with the case,
and that this had contributed to a souring of foreign
investor sentiment towards the country.
Reuters - December 31, 1998.
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