Senior Vietnamese officials’ wives abet petrol smuggling
Two fuel companies owned by wives of senior officials in southern Vietnam apparently refuse to sell petrol to normal retail buyers, preferring instead to sell to traffickers smuggling them to Cambodia.
Fuel trafficking to Cambodia is rampant in Long An province and most of it is bought from Khanh Duong and Nhat Linh enterprises.
The former is owned by Duong Ngoc Trinh, wife of Colonel Vo Minh Khanh, head of the province’s border patrol.
It operates three gas stations and a barge on a river leading to Cambodia.
Trafficker C. told Tuoi Tre he had just bought 450 liters of petrol from Khanh Duong and smuggled it into Cambodia for a profit of over VND2 million (US$125).
Khanh Duong, however, is reluctant or simply unwilling to sell gas to normal consumers including local farmers who need it for their pumps.
When Tuoi Tre journalists tried to buy gas at a Khanh Duong station, they got only VND10,000 (62 cents) worth. When they asked for 20 liters more, the attendant said: “Not a drop [of petrol] is available now.”
Just then a tricycle carrying dozens of empty cans drew up and the same seller began to pump petrol into them.
The journalists also saw many tricycles leaving other Khanh Duong stations heading towards Cambodia.
At a pump in Hai Dau, an attendant asked the journalists why they wanted to buy petrol. When told it was for their motorbikes, the employee refused to sell.
“I wouldn’t sell it to be fed to motorbikes,” he said.
Another dubious petrol distributor
Nhat Linh enterprise belongs to Pham Thi Be, wife of Nguyen Minh Ha, former chairman of the district people’s committee and now deputy head of the province’s trade department.
Nhat Linh operates 6 or 7 stations, some near the Cambodia border.
One illegal trader, V., said he often bought gas from Nhat Linh and transported it to Cambodia.
Another petrol trader said, “The whole district depends on Nhat Linh petrol stations. Porters and traders subsist because of them.”
Nhat Linh also distributes fuel to state-owned companies on a regular basis.
One Nhat Linh station was blacklisted last week for not selling fuel though a local market team found there were 7,500 liters of gas and other fuels in its stocks.
Just like Khanh Duong, Nhat Linh pumps are reluctant to sell retail, preferring wholesale to dubious traders instead.
But they have remained above the law and traffickers brazenly transport fuels to Cambodia.
Asked whether he dared traffick gas bought from other stations, one man said merely: “But for them, I would have starved.”
Market monitoring agencies report that an estimated 20,000 liters are smuggled to Cambodia everyday.
Source: Tuoi Tre – Translated by Hoang Bao (Than Nhien News)
Fuel trafficking to Cambodia is rampant in Long An province and most of it is bought from Khanh Duong and Nhat Linh enterprises.
The former is owned by Duong Ngoc Trinh, wife of Colonel Vo Minh Khanh, head of the province’s border patrol.
It operates three gas stations and a barge on a river leading to Cambodia.
Trafficker C. told Tuoi Tre he had just bought 450 liters of petrol from Khanh Duong and smuggled it into Cambodia for a profit of over VND2 million (US$125).
Khanh Duong, however, is reluctant or simply unwilling to sell gas to normal consumers including local farmers who need it for their pumps.
When Tuoi Tre journalists tried to buy gas at a Khanh Duong station, they got only VND10,000 (62 cents) worth. When they asked for 20 liters more, the attendant said: “Not a drop [of petrol] is available now.”
Just then a tricycle carrying dozens of empty cans drew up and the same seller began to pump petrol into them.
The journalists also saw many tricycles leaving other Khanh Duong stations heading towards Cambodia.
At a pump in Hai Dau, an attendant asked the journalists why they wanted to buy petrol. When told it was for their motorbikes, the employee refused to sell.
“I wouldn’t sell it to be fed to motorbikes,” he said.
Another dubious petrol distributor
Nhat Linh enterprise belongs to Pham Thi Be, wife of Nguyen Minh Ha, former chairman of the district people’s committee and now deputy head of the province’s trade department.
Nhat Linh operates 6 or 7 stations, some near the Cambodia border.
One illegal trader, V., said he often bought gas from Nhat Linh and transported it to Cambodia.
Another petrol trader said, “The whole district depends on Nhat Linh petrol stations. Porters and traders subsist because of them.”
Nhat Linh also distributes fuel to state-owned companies on a regular basis.
One Nhat Linh station was blacklisted last week for not selling fuel though a local market team found there were 7,500 liters of gas and other fuels in its stocks.
Just like Khanh Duong, Nhat Linh pumps are reluctant to sell retail, preferring wholesale to dubious traders instead.
But they have remained above the law and traffickers brazenly transport fuels to Cambodia.
Asked whether he dared traffick gas bought from other stations, one man said merely: “But for them, I would have starved.”
Market monitoring agencies report that an estimated 20,000 liters are smuggled to Cambodia everyday.
Source: Tuoi Tre – Translated by Hoang Bao (Than Nhien News)
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