The Labour Publishing House has now claimed that their partner, Labour Bookstore, added the photoshopped picture of comedian Cong Ly without his consent or their agreement.
Civil Code and Implementation Guidelines 2014
Vu Anh Tuan, deputy head of Labour Publishing House, said the book, Civil Code and Implementation Guidelines 2014, is the product of a collaboration between the publishing house and Labour Bookstore in HCM City. They noticed the mistake with the cover only after the books are printed. On July 22, they issued a recall on the copies.
Tuan said, "The Labour Bookstore was responsible for submitting the legal deposit copy. We found out later that the Labour Bookstore changed the approved content."
In addition, the original name of the book was supposed to be Learning about Civil Code and Implementation Guidelines 2014. According to Tuan, they asked permission to print 1,000 copies but in reality, only issued 500. As of November 17, only 270 copies had been recovered.
Tuan admitted that they had been careless for not overseeing the printing process carefully and would work with Labour Bookstore to locate and recall the remaining copies.
Upon learning that his image of him wearing only underwear was used for the cover of a law textbook, comedian Cong Ly voiced his displeasure and asked for more cooperative attitude from publisher.
