VietNamNet Bridge – Ha Noi Police have arrested eight people in a petrol fraud investigation.

Staff from the Ha Noi's Market Watchdog Department inspect the petrol pumping machine at a station located in Tran Khat Chan Street's No 436. — Photo 24h.com.vn

The owners of the two petrol stations located in Yen Vien Commune and 436 Tran Khat Chan Street and their staff were among the arrested.

On December 24, the Market Management Unit No 14, in co-ordination with the Ha Noi Police's division of economic security, found that two petrol stations were cheating customers with the help of an electronic chip during an inspection on three petrol stations of the Ha Noi Petrol Fuel Joint Stock Company (HFC).

The two petrol stations used the chip to rig the display of fuel prices and quantities, the market management unit said.

The petrol station employees controlled the chip from a distance, enabling them to sell less gas than the quantity displayed on the pump screen, and to pocket about eight per cent of every sale.

"Using a standard measuring device, inspectors found that customers were getting only 19 litres of petrol while paying for 20 litres," the management team said.

At a press conference held by Ha Noi's Department of Industry and Trade on Monday, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, head of the petrol station at 436 Tran Khat Chan, admitted that the station used three remote controls to rig pump meters. Tran Thanh Trinh, head of the petrol station at Yen Vien Commune, also acknowledged to have hired people to install an electric chip on pump handles. The station has defrauded 4,500 litres of diesel oil and 3,000 litres of petrol by December 24 thanks to the trick.

Le Hong Thang, director of Ha Noi's Department of Industry and Trade, has requested that the two violating petrol stations have their business licences revoked. The money from the sale of fraudulent trading would be submitted to the state budget, he said.

Thang also asked the city's market management department and the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality to review the verification labels at petrol stations to avoid future violations.

VNS