An Asanzo truck is seen traveling on the road in front of the company – PHOTO: THUONG TRUONG NEWSPAPER

In a statement on Friday, Asanzo said it had sent the lawsuit to the People’s Court of District 11 – the district where the company is headquartered.

Asanzo filed the suit following a series of 14 Tuoi Tre articles published between June 21 and July 25, which claimed to have discovered Asanzo importing Chinese products and disguising them as locally made merchandise.

Some headlines included, “Are Asanzo products high-quality Vietnamese goods?”, “Stripping Asanzo of the ‘high-quality Vietnamese goods’ title,” and “How Asanzo produces TVs in 30 seconds.”

In its lawsuit, Asanzo stated that Tuoi Tre newspaper had accused the company of “changing origins of goods,” “not producing anything other than television sets,” “bypassing management agencies,” and “deceiving consumers,” which Asanzo said were completely false.

Asanzo cited the Press Law as saying that this accusation is strictly banned, because Tuoi Tre has made false reports and allegations against the company before any competent State agencies announce their conclusions, or a verdict takes effect.

The company said that the crime of “faking the origin of goods,” which Tuoi Tre has accused the company of, and its description about the production process of its TVs being divided into numerous stages, have resulted in readers misunderstanding the production and business activities of the company.

“They are two main causes which have resulted in losses for the business operations of Asanzo,” the company stressed.

Established in 2013, Asanzo Vietnam has launched multiple mobile phones and home appliances, such as air conditioners, microwave ovens, cookers and blenders, with TVs being its key product line.

The company, as covered in Tuoi Tre, has imported electronic items from China – either components or finished products – for the past five years. It then assembles them or simply attaches Made-in-Vietnam labels to the products before selling them in the local market.

Following the newspaper’s own investigation, several major retailers of mobile phones and home appliances, such as such as Dien may Cho Lon, Dien may Xanh and Nguyen Kim, have taken Asanzo-branded items off their supermarket shelves.

The company’s television products, alone, hold some 15% of the television market, while its revenue target for this year is pegged at VND10 trillion, or some US$430 million. SGT

Chi Thinh

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