Vietnam suspends trading of listed company over tax fraud

Vietnam suspends trading of listed company over tax fraud

Vietnam’s stock market has temporarily suspended trading of one of its 19 listed companies over tax fraud, a stock exchange official said Thursday.

Shares of Canfoco, Halong Canned Food joint Stock Company, based in northern Haiphong, were suspended indefinitely on Tuesday, the official said on condition of anonymity.

A Canfoco executive said three employees were arrested last week for allegedly falsifying documents for exporting goods to China to reclaim value-added tax worth 7.02 billion dong US$459,000 from the government.

This is the first time a listed company has been suspended since Vietnam’s first post-war stock exchange opened in July 2000, the exchange official said. Police are widening their investigation into the case, he said.

Canfoco, which specializes in food processing, was listed on the stock exchange late last year.

Police have uncovered dozens of fraud cases involving value-added tax, retrieving more than 300 billion dong US$ 19.6 million for the state.

Under a government policy to encourage exports, companies can retrieve a partial rebate of the value-added tax paid to the government when their goods are exported.

AP