VietNamNet Bridge – Chairman and General Director of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) has appointed four key Vinashin officials.  

Troubled shipbuilding group to be restructured for survival

They consist of Pham Thanh Son as  Deputy General Director, Tran Duc Chinh as Chief Accountant cum Chief of Finance and Accounting Department, Bui Thanh Binh as Vice Chief of Vinashin Office cum Assistant to Vinashin Chair and Ton Nhat Quang, Vice Chief of Vinashin Office cum Assistant to Vinashin General Director.

Former Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietam), Truong Van Tuyen, assumed the Vinashin General Directorship, replacing Nguyen Quoc Anh, on October 6.

Tuyen was the third official undertaking this post in less than one month, since former Chair cum General Director Pham Thanh Binh was arrested. The two others are Tran Quang Vu and Nguyen Quoc Anh.

Changing key officials is one of the top thee missions in the restructuring process at the state-owned group Vinashin.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung in late October confirmed that an entirely new Vinashin will come out in early November.

The Politburo aims to develop Vietnam’s shipbuilding industry, with Vinashin as the keystone. This group will only build and repair big ships and will be able to build war ships for the navy in the future.

The government decided to restructure Vinashin at a time when the company was sunken in debt (over $4.5 billion). The group is restructured by handing over some projects and subsidiaries to other State-owned groups like PetroVietnam and the Vietnam Shipping Lines Corporation (Vinalines).

Deputy PM Nguyen Sinh Hung has instructed the Finance Ministry to consider Vinashin’s petition on using part of the fund raised through the issuance of international bond in 2010 (around $300 million) to pay the due debt to France’s Natixis Bank.

The Ministry of Transport’s 18-page report sent to National Assembly deputies on October 19 pointed out that last year, Vinashin incurred losses of up to 1.6 trillion dong (over $84 million) and will continue losing this year.

By early June 2010, its total debt reached 86 trillion dong (over $4.5 billion), including around 45 trillion dong of long-term debts and 14 trillion dong of due debts. The debt that Vinashin has to pay is 11 folds more than its capital. The group was on the brink of bankruptcy. Earlier, it didn’t honestly report to the government its actual situation. It still reported to earn 750 billion dong of profit in 2009 and nearly 100 billion dong in the first quarter of 2010.

In related news, police on November 2 arrested one more Vinashin's official.

Do Dinh Con, deputy director of the Hoang Anh Shipbuilding Industry Joint Stock Company, an affiliate firm, was taken in for “violating State regulations on economic management and causing serious consequences.”

The beleaguered company has debts of $4.5 billion, leading the government to restructure it in July and order the arrest of several top executives for wrongdoing and mismanagement.

The police said Con connived with Nguyen Van Tuyen, a former director of the company, to forge documents to get bank loans worth VND42.8 billion (then US$2.3 million) during his tenure as chief accountant between 2006 and 2009.

The forgeries were to claim purchase of steel from Cuu Long Trade and Investment Joint Stock Company to obtain the loans.

They spent that money “on other purposes,” the police said without elaborating.

Tuyen and Nguyen Tuan Duong, director of Cuu Long at that time, are already in custody.

So far, seven Vinashin officials, including two former chief executives, Vu Thanh Binh and Tran Quang Vu, have been arrested and a warrant has been issued for Giang Kim Dat, former business manager of a Vinashin subsidiary.

PV