PM orders support to cashew nut exporters allegedly scammed
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked relevant ministers and the central bank’s governor to coordinate with the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS) and agencies concerned to verify the information that many cashew nut exporters are facing risk of big losses.
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| Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA) |
The Government’s Office has issued a dispatch conveying the PM’s instructions regarding Viet Nam’s export of cashew units to Europe.
The document was sent to the Ministries of Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Rural Development, Public Security, and Transport, and the Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) after some e-newspapers reported that many cashew nut exporters are facing the risk of losing hundreds of millions of US dollars.
Chinh ordered coordination between the ministries and agencies to ensure legal and legitimate rights and interests of people and businesses, in line with domestic and international law.
Any obstacles to the work must be reported to the PM in a timely manner, according to the dispatch.
VINACAS said Vietnamese exporters may have lost nearly 100 containers of cashew nuts valued at hundreds of millions of US dollars while shipping to Europe.
The firms held that they would be scammed as all of them signed contracts to export cashew nuts to Italy through a broker - Kim Hanh Viet One Member Co based in Ho Chi Minh City.
They have reported that changes were made to the SWIFT code sent from Vietnamese banks to those allegedly representing the importer in Turkey. The Turkish banks said the buyer is not their client and that they had sent back the documents. However, they failed to specify how they had sent back the original documents and provided Vietnamese banks with bills of lading.
After document collections were sent to the buyer’s bank in Italy, the Italian bank replied that it had received only copies of the bills of lading, not the original documents. Therefore, they cannot process the payments. It is the norm in international trade that anyone with the original documents can collect the goods and the shippers must comply.
The association insisted shippers must release the goods after getting confirmation from the Vietnamese sellers, VINACAS said.
Meanwhile, the association has requested legal assistance from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC).
(Source: VNA)
