Five law firms lose licences

Ha Noi Department of Justice has withdrawn the operating licences of five law firms in the city.

This was because their legal representatives, either chief of administration or director, was found to have violated the regulations of the Ha Noi Bar Association, which had their names removed from its membership list.

The five law firms are the Ngon Lua Viet, Thanh An, Van Xuan, Bao Chau&Colleagues and Ngoc Thanh law offices.

Teaching Vietnamese in Thailand

Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) in co-ordination with Thailand’s Higher Education Commission opened a refresher course for Vietnamese language teachers in Bangkok on July 4.

This is the second course of this kind organized by the two sides for 16 Vietnamese-Thai and Thai teachers to improve their capabilities for teaching and popularizing Vietnamese in Thailand.

The first course took place in Noong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces four years ago.

PhD Surin Churaisin, a representative of Thailand’s Higher Education Commission, expressed sincere thanks to Vietnam’s MoET for joining efforts to organize the course successfully.

Ambulance caught transporting smuggled woods

Forest rangers in the central highlands province of Kon Tum on Thursday found 31 Tracwood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) slats worth approximately VND100 million (U$5,000) that have unclear origin on an ambulance of a local taxi firm.

The driver tried to flee away but was arrested later, they said.

37-year-old Nguyen Dinh Tu, the driver, confessed to the rangers that a friend of his in Pleiku, a neighboring province of Kon Tum, had him transport it.

The Hung Nhan firm, the ambulance’s owner, is suspected to misuse the Red Cross emblem.

Ksor H’Nhan, chairman of the Red Cross in Gia Lai province, said they only give its memberships, who have to provide humanitarian aid to people in need, the permission to use the emblem.

“They [Hung Nhan taxi firm] have yet to receive any permission from local authorities to use the Red Cross emblem,” she claimed.

The origin of the woods is being investigated.

Vice President visits outstanding martyrs’ families in Nghe An

On July 5, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan visited the families of some outstanding invalids and martyrs in the central province of Nghe An in the lead up to the 65th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs Day.

Vice President Doan and her delegation offered incense and flowers at the Truong Bon historical relic site in Nghe An’s Do Luong district where 13 young volunteers laid down their lives to protect vehicles heading to the front line during the anti-US resistance war.

During the visit to the martyrs’ families, Mrs Doan expressed her sympathy and encouraged them to uphold the revolutionary tradition and continue contributing to the nation’s development.

She also praised Nghe An for providing good care for the families of social beneficiaries, invalids and martyrs, urging the province to pay more attention to people credited with serving the revolution and boost the “Paying Debts of Gratitude” movements to help improve their living standards.

On the occasion, the delegation also burnt incense to commemorate late President Ho Chi Minh at the Kim Lien relic area and visited the cemetery and memorial house for heroic Soviet-Nghe Tinh martyrs that died in 1930-1931 in Hung Nguyen district.

Insurance issue delays rescue of distressed ship

Efforts to rescue a Vietnamese cargo ship in distress off the Indian coast have stalled since the ship’s insurer refused to pay for the towing cost, said Phan The Vuong, director of Anh Son Shipping Trading Co Ltd, the ship’s owner.

The 4,374 DWT Anh Son ship was carrying wood from the northern port city of Hai Phong to India when its steering system broke down on June 26. The vessel, with 15 crewmembers on board, has since drifted off its route, although it has contacted relevant agencies for help.

Vuong said his company has hired an Indian rescue company to tow the ship to the Indian port of Kolkata to unload its cargo.

The Indian port authority said they have allowed the towing provided that the ship obtains a written guarantee from its insurer to repay the towing cost, which is estimated at US$250,000 – an amount that exceeds the company’s financial ability, Vuong said.

Meanwhile, the insurer, whose names is yet to be announced, refused to grant such a guarantee, explaining the distress is a kind of "unexpected fault" and thus does not belong to its insurance liability.

As the ship’s crew has, the vessel is listing at an angle of 20 degrees and could sink if it remains stranded. It also reported that it has run out of food and drinking water.

On June 3, at the request of the Vietnam Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC Vietnam), its Indian counterpart, MRCC Chennai, sent planes and rescue boats to the distressed boat, and it later informed that all the crewmembers remained on the ship.

At 6 am on July 4, MRCC Chennai reported that the ship was located 30 nautical miles off the Indian coast, and all crew members are safe.

At 8:45 am yesterday, MRCC Chennai said that it had deployed supporting facilities around the distressed ship and that the crewmembers’ health was normal. The agency also promised to provide food and water to the ship, at the request of MRCC Vietnam.

As reported by the ship, the crewmembers have had to eat porridge for the past two days and their health has worsened.

MRCC Chennai asked the ship’s owner and its insurer to necessary actions for towing the ship ashore.

Yesterday, Anh Son Co Ltd, based in Hai Phong, continued negotiating with its insurer over the required guarantee, while MRCC Vietnam was boosting its coordination with both relevant Vietnamese and Indian agencies to accelerate rescue activities.

Notary organisations lack professionalism

Ten per cent of 78 notary organisations operating in Ha Noi do not operate professionally, according to the Ha Noi Department of Justice.

Many notary offices failed to follow the rules of the tax law or follow proper notarising order, some received documents outside their official offices and even illegally opened new offices.

From the beginning of the year to present, 78 notary organisations have been operating in Ha Noi with more than 200 notary staff who have helped notarise nearly 88,000 contracts and transactions and collected about VND12 billion (US$585 million).

Whistleblower behind Toyota recall loses lawsuit

A Toyota engineer who triggered Vietnam’s biggest recall in history lost a second lawsuit against the company Wednesday, this time for violation of privacy and character defamation.

Le Van Tach, who previously took the carmaker to court for suspending him, docking his pay and demoting him, accused Toyota of retaliation because he exposed technical faults in its vehicles.

In a court filing on Sept. 12, Tach said his employer illegally accessed his emails, spread rumors he had had an extramarital affair and falsely accused him of plotting to shut down the company.

The Phuc Yen Province People’s Court rejected all three claims Wednesday.

The jury said managers could read his emails because they came from a company account, despite Tach’s complaint that Toyota’s policy violated Vietnamese law. The court also scolded Tach for sending personal messages from his work address.

Toyota said the engineer had emailed dozens of love letters to a woman and defended reading his correspondence because he had barraged Toyota Vietnam’s CEO with emails and letters, thus causing a “disturbance” to the CEO.

For that reason, a People’s Court in Vinh Phuc Province also ruled in the first round of litigation in April that Toyota was justified in penalizing Tach.

The company had suspended Tach for three months, during which he received half his salary, and then demoted him to a safety control division, where he made VND9.9 million (US$474) per month, VND2.6 million lower than before.

Not only did the court grant no damages to Tach this week, it also ordered he pay all court fees.

In siding with Toyota, the court said that the disciplinary actions were in line with the government’s Code of Labor and Decree 41, and that Tach knew company policy when he was hired. Jurors also concluded Toyota had not accused the engineer of any false plots.

Tach’s punishments in June and August 2011 came just months after he released findings that the Innova and Fortuner vehicles suffered below-standard bolts and high oil pressure at the rear wheels.

Immediately after Tach’s April 2011 report, Toyota Vietnam publicly apologized and released a recall plan affecting 65,703 cars manufactured in Vietnam.

VN student assaulted in Melbourne

A 21-year-old Vietnamese student was brutally assaulted by an armed group in Melbourne, Australia, on June 27 while he was on the way home from his workplace, according to Vietnam News Agency correspondent from Sydney.

Duong Minh Tuan, a student at Swinburne University of Technology, was hospitalised with serious injuries to the head and face - and a broken jaw that needed surgery.

The correspondent said three suspects were arrested for questioning. The Vietnamese Embassy in Australia contacted the Ministry of Education and Training and Australian Police agencies to handle the case.

A similar case occurred to a Vietnamese student in the same city in 2010.

Human trafficking ring busted

Police in southern Dong Nai Province recently prosecuted Le Thi Anh Tuyet, 28, for illegally trafficking Vietnamese women to Malaysia.

The municipal police reported that Tuyet lured young girls from Cam My District and Long Khanh Town into working as waitresses with wages of up to US$2.500 per month, at hotels, karaoke bars and restaurants.

The girls, however, were subsequently sold to brothels and hotels to work as prostitutes.

According to Dong Nai police, within the last two months, Tuyet brought 19 women to Malaysia on labour export or tourist visas. Each victim was forced to incur a debt of VND20 million ($950) to VND25 million ($1.200) before arriving in Malaysia, which had to be paid off.

However, last month three women escaped and reported to Malaysia's police about their capture and prostitution.

After receiving a report from Malaysian authorities sent to Viet Nam's Embassy in the country, Dong Nai police assisted the women in returning to their homes and arrested Tuyet.

Municipal police said they had found 16 debt papers and $21.000 made from selling Vietnamese women in Tuyet's house. They also pinpointed three other people involved in the case.

Police will closely co-operate with Malaysian authorities to rescue the rest of the women.

The case remains under investigation.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre